Digimon Tamers: Eternity and not a moment longer
by commander-kron-CNL
Summary: The tamers search for a way to get their friends back, after the portal Takato found is destroyed by Yamaki. The tamers are looking for trouble or has trouble found them, may be change to M at a later date.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I will not be making any money from this fan fiction; the majority of it takes place wholly in my head

**Disclaimer: **I will not be making any money from this fan fiction; the majority of it takes place wholly in my head. So Bandai please don't sue me, you aren't missing anything.

Note: this story includes elements taken from the following sources and may not be wholly accurate.

The series.

The CD drama.

Runaway Locomon.

And my brain. (Second-hand as it may be)

Enjoy

**Waiting for eternity, and not a moment longer.**

Chapter 1 – Seeking.

_I just ran, I couldn't help it; I had to tell the others. We had spent such a long time searching that it was hard to believe that it had been under my nose the whole time_.

_I can't believe that it had never occurred to me to look there, I'm not telling Yamaki_ _this time_.

By the time the monster makers could reassemble I will be back in the digital world, but shouldn't I offer that chance to Rika and Henry?

We had worked so hard; to be ready when the time came to get our friends back, it would be wrong of me to not give them the same chance I had.

I know that Henry, his father and the others are working on a new ark to transport us to and from the digital world, but the fire wall they had put up to stop humans from entering the digital world, and Digimon from entering the real world, was so unstable that it could take years of research to get it right. But the longer we leave it, the less chance there is that we will see our friends again; that I will ever see you again, Guilmon.

_So here I am running through the streets like a madman. Henry and Rika will want to know_.

The sky was pretty cloudy, and despite the fact the sun was shinning, the air was chilling and foretold the approach of an oncoming storm.

_I better get going or I'm liable to have to swim home_. A smile fluttered across his lips and he felt happier.

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Henry's mind roved back to the memory of the conversation he had had with his mother a few months ago, as he sat leaning over the dining room table. He did not really want to think about it, but he could not help it.

_I don't know why I did it_, _but I just can't forgive him, even if he could bring Terriermon back right this moment. _He thought.

I know I haven't been treating him fairly but I have to stick by what I believe is right or what good am I.

"He's my dad and we've never had an argument before…but he's never done anything like this before" Henry remembered saying, looking directly into his mother's eyes.

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Mrs Wong felt ill; no She felt helpless. She often stopped to watch him. It was during times like this she could see his loneliness and frustration in the set of his shoulders. It was how quite he was now that made her feel worse, if it was possible. She knew he was thinking about that again.

She cast her mind back to the last time they had talked about it.

Henry was looking into her eyes asking for help in such a way that it tore at her soul to see her child so distressed.

She knew her son well enough to know what was going through in his mind.

_He wants forgiveness for what he said, an acknowledgment that he was right to say what he said. _She looked at her son, he had helped save two worlds and then just when he had thought it was all over he lost his friend and, apart of himself.

His sister had been the same. Suzie had cried for weeks that her partner was gone, but she hadn't apportioned blame like her brother had. Sometimes it seemed as though she could not understand that word, _partners, _it was like a symbiosis and one seemed less without the other.

It wasn't so bad with his sister, but Henry was like his father and grandfather, calm ninety-nine percent of the time, but that calm attitude came with a price. They were prone to standing up for their beliefs with the force of a tidal wave when they knew they were right.

She and the others in her family, Henry's other brother and sister, had to endure the looks that pasted between Henry and her husband. It wasn't an argument as such and they were still civil to each other but it was more of a silent conflict. She hoped that after all this time that they would have sorted it out by now, but more than a year had gone by and nothing had changed.

Mayumi had hoped that things would have improved six months ago, when Janyu and his old monster maker friends had decided to rebuild some bridges and re-establish their old team. Everyone had pitched in, providing financing, a small lab and a few other things.

Mayumi enjoyed the idea that her husband had returned to the kind of things that he enjoyed the most; she hadn't seen him show such enthusiasm since before he had gotten his job at the nearby Microsoft office. It was not that the work he did was unsatisfying; it was just not his idea of fun.

A Digital zone was discovered, but Janyu and the others said that it could be dangerous, so they informed the authorities and had the area surrounding it sealed up. Takato was apparently appalled by the idea; he wanted to take the risk.

Henry took it in a similar way, although he didn't argue quite as much, as he appears to have his own plans on how to get his friend back.

The first break through came slightly after Henry proposed his idea to send voice messages to the digital world. The problem, of course, was that there was a chance that the messages would never reach the recipients. Janyu had jumped at the chance to work on the idea, hoping that it would help towards repairing their fractured relationship.

After a month of hard work, they had finally managed to get the first proto-type ready to be sent, and Henry's relationship with her husband seemed to be on the mend, at work anyway.

Mayumi chuckled to herself, the thought of the working together at the same firm just rushed into her head. Henry had spent, as much time as he could with the 'monster makers', working on his system and during those times, at least, he seemed to get along with his father.

Janyu was right, knowing there was at least a chance that Terriermon would get his message, did make Henry happy, for a while anyway. At home things are as cold as ever. Janyu is trying his best.

_He is trying his best to apologise, he knows he can never regain the trust he had lost but he has to try, hasn't he?_ I love my husband and son dearly, but they are tearing each other apart… I can't take sides no matter how right my son is or how much my husband wants to make it up to him; they have to sort things out for themselves.

She remembered once all those months ago, she had overheard Henry practicing what to say in his first message to be sent through to that other world. He sounded so strong, so sure that things would work out, not letting even Terriermon know how badly things were going for him. Henry was cutting everyone out from his pain.

"Henry, I know that in your heart you forgave him a long time ago and in your father's heart, he wants to make things right. But you must both come to terms with what's happened. That is the truth, what you both do with it is your choice" She said, as she tried, almost failing, to hold herself together and stop from moving to hug him.

She hoped that she had said the right thing back then.

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Henry shifted in his seat, uncomfortably.

"Thanks mum", he remembered replying. "I know I haven't made it easy it for you, and I have been a little cold to dad and maybe a part of me has forgiven him, but I am not yet ready to accept that or tell him"

He tried to look resolute back then.

Mother gave me such a faint smile and spoke softly. "I will not tell him, like I have said before, I love you both dearly but this is your burden to bear, yours and his."

_This isn't good, I have to talk to someone or I might explode_, He said to himself. His mother's voice suddenly intruded on his thoughts.

"I have to go out and get some things in to make dinner, do you want anything special?"

He searched his mind for an excuse and found one." No thanks mum, I 'm going to see if

Rika's homes from School yet, see yah"

Henry got up and made his way out.

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With that he left, and secretly Mrs Wong hoped that her son found himself again, Terriermon had turned her son from a lonely, computer obsessed boy, into a man.

She had always thought that that Digimon game was bad for him, but it became his life and salvation, perhaps now it would be the death of his soul as well.

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Rika Nonaka was dead to the world. She had all lost her drive; her grades had always been good and she had always done her homework, but for the last few months she hadn't been herself. For most of past year, she had held onto the hope that they would have found away back to the digital world, but to no avail.

They had managed to locate a gate near Guilmon's old hang out, although the gate wasn't big enough to fit anyone into. Takato had been excited about it, and was sure that given enough time it would grow bigger and stabilize.

Yamaki, however, was less optimistic wanting to ensure that no one got sucked in by mistake. A digital barrier had been set up months before by Henry's father and the monster makers to prevent humans from going to the digital world, it was also designed to prevent Digimon from coming back through either.

Rika tossed her entire body, moving from lying on her left side to resting on her right.

She could feel the terrible foreboding that came with knowing she had made some very poor decisions in her life and that recent ones were playing on her mind.

I just need some time to rest She told to herself. I keep telling myself that but I don't want to rest and I don't want to accept that she's gone. We've searched, high and low, for the better part of two years and we haven't found anything. I know that there is a chance I will never see her again, that the gateway to the digital world really is closed forever.

The Monster makers, for the most part, have been no help at all to the tamers in their ever-increasingly desperate search to be reunited with the lost parts of themselves.

That's how Rika saw it.

Rika regretted that she had sent the message that she had, yes; by the end of it she had said what she wanted to. But she must have appeared to be such a fool; blaming Renamon for something she couldn't possibly have any control over. The fact that the message might never reach Renamon was possibly the saddest thing that Rika could think of. Almost.

Things seemed to be going from bad to worse, for Rika. She had learned just a few days before she had sent the message to the digital world that her father had been involved in an accident with a stolen vehicle. It was that, more than Ryo's attempt to reason with her, which had convinced her to make a message of her own.

Now she felt as though she had left it too late to tell Renamon what she really felt, just as she had been robbed of the chance to see her father again.

His death hurt me, and it continues to hurt me, _but what if something happens to Renamon?_ _Before I have a chance to talk to her again?_ What if I have missed my only opportunity to say goodbye? Rika shrank away from those thoughts, which were frightening her.

_I was truly happy for the first time in my life, it was as though that no matter how bad things got we would always be together._ Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night screaming her name. It's kind of silly, but Renamon completes me in a way that's hard to explain. I understand her because she is like me, cold on the outside and warm on the inside, and thus I can understand myself.

The more she thought about it the more she was convinced that Renamon was almost like an older sister to her. She had never meant to tell Renamon that but, Rika was finding it harder and harder to concentrate and keep her fears to herself, and it worried her.

So here I am, I have nothing I really want to do, stuck in my room, waiting for her to ask me what's wrong. I admit to myself that most of the time I can keep myself under control and ignore my true feelings, but when I'm alone it comes tumbling out, and for a long time only Renamon ever heard that part of me, and it was comforting that I knew she would never reveal my secrets or my pain.

Rika shuddered, remembering that, due in no small part to her fear and anger; she had almost lost her friend before she realised she even had one.

Part of Rika hoped that her message wouldn't reach the digital world, that no one knew how lost she felt and how little control she seemed to have over her past and future.

She had managed to keep all these thoughts and feelings inside for weeks, months, years and if she didn't get them out she felt like she might fall down and never get up again.

Thinking about how badly she had treated Renamon back then almost made her more depressed than before. Rika silently wept for a while, then slowly Rika's eyes skid closed.

In a shorter time than she had expected, She began to breath more deeply before slipping into a comfortable rhythm. She had finally drifted to sleep; she didn't get long to nap however.

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A voice calls through the darkness "Alice".

The dreams wouldn't stop.

"Help me, help me please I cannot be alive, yet I am not dead. Help me! Please!" The voice wouldn't go away. "_I lost him! Please leave me alone, we both did what was required of us, I loved you, but I can't change the past"_

"_Please leave me alone!"_ Tears coursed down damp cheeks.

Alice was tossing in her bed again.

Rob McCoy could only watch as his Granddaughter suffered for a reason he couldn't grasp. He knew she would have problems, as all young people do as they grow up. They believe you can't ever understand the problems they encounter, so they never ask for help until they are either unable to contain it anymore or desperate enough to ask.

His Granddaughter usually told him everything, and the fact she hadn't come to him for help long ago was a bad sign. He hoped she would be okay, he took a step back, sometimes she never tells him anything.

He decided that she would come to him with it, in her own time, until then he would just have to wait.

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He had rode quite quickly from his home, and although he felt frustrated, he still wanted to talk. He needed someone who would understand, so he decided to visit the one person who might have some idea on how he should deal with what he was experiencing.

The streets were already well on their way to being empty of most people, as a there was usually a few hours of calm before the people who worked at night, or simply went out for fun, started moving around. Tonight most people would stay indoors, as the weather agency had reported that a severe storm was coming from the south, it was already raining as it was so Henry pedalled a little faster.

Twenty minutes he finally got to where he was going.

Rika was perhaps the person he could trust the most at the moment; he just hoped she could help him. He had been to Rika's home once before, a temporary salvation from the D-reaper, where they had a meal together before going into battle.

He leaned his bike up against wall, which surrounded Rika's house like a fortress, and secured it to the wall with a tiny lock.

He pulled the bell beside the door and waited.

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"Rika, can you get the door?" Her eyes shot open, and her heart was sent into a flutter, she quickly got dressed. She put on her shirt, with its broken heart, which she had taken up wearing again due to the mixture of awkward feelings she felt. She slid her jeans up her legs and tried to make herself presentable.

"Ok, Grandma" Rika walked through the house and slipped on her shoes as she exited the door, entering the garden and throwing on her long jacket that was on the coat rack. It was quit cold outside, whether that was more due to the chill in the air or the void inside her was debateable.

The garden was beautiful even at this time of year; perhaps it was the fact that it was so plain that made it that way. When she was younger her father would help her dig around in this garden, planting seeds in a small flowerbed that had been set aside. Beside it used to be a swing, where she spent a lot of her time playing.

That had been along time ago, she had let the flowerbed become overgrown with wild grass and the swing had rotted away so that only a slither was left. She had watched and allowed it to happen. It was just after her parents had broken up. She grew tired of it and herself; she had just sat and watched herself, as she had been, vanish along with that swing.

Of course her mother had not noticed any abnormal change in her. _Mum didn't even realise the significance of it!_

But it had been her father's idea to make the flowerbed, because Rika had showed an interest. Rika, being only six and a half at the time, had fallen in love with flowers. The swing her father had made was just been an extension of that, a place to sit upon and admire something beautiful Rika had helped create.

Her mum had never really taken an active part in it.

When Rika had been seven, she had tried to get her mother to help her, but she was always too busy with 'something else'. The 'something else' later imprinted itself into her consciousness, as something she would never allow herself to like or allow her mother to think she liked.

It had been Rika's father who had been the one to spend as much free time as he could, and would even make time late at night, to help Rika tend to the plants or fix anything that got broken.

When Rika had left the whole thing to rot, her mum just believed that Rika was growing out of such things, but that wasn't it.

Rika had loved tending to the garden, and playing on her swing, but things changed when her father and mother got divorced. It had happened one week after Rika's eighth birthday.

Her Dad had always thought that his wife was too focused on her career, and keeping up her looks to notice anything that happened around her. He always complained how forgetful, or how easily she got carried away with her work.

The final straw had been when she forgot her own daughter's Birthday. He swore that, one-day, his wife would regret her behaviour, but he was unwilling to hang around to find out.

In a way, he had been right, almost. If Renamon had not arrived when she did, it would not have take a genius to workout how much of a distance there would have been between mother and daughter by now.

The relationship, between husband and wife back then, had been falling apart since a while before then. They had slowly become strangers, or so dad had felt.

The divorce had been a very brief affair, and from then on Rika had had very little contact with her father. He still set her toys, and presents. He sent her mother child support and to Rika he sent an allowance. He never missed a birthday, and his gifts always seemed right. It had been him who had sent her a set of Digimon cards, probably guessing what kind of girl she would grow up to be, since it was hardly the toy of a 'flower girl'. Not that Rika had ever been that bad.

Rika smiled to herself and thought. _In a way, I owe my father for getting me to this point, for allowing me to meet 'Her'._

He was just never around, physically after that. He said that if she ever needed his help he would be there. Those words were of little comfort now, and she felt the sadness in it.

After her father left, there was no one there to help her maintain the garden. It began to show sighs of it dieing, and the swing began to become overgrown with ivy that was growing up the small metal frame from which it hung.

It was shortly after that that her grandmother had moved in, Rika was thankful to her for coming; she allowed Rika her own space, once in a while. Up until her grandmother's arrival, her mother had taken to bringing Rika to work with her.

Even thinking about it made every cell in Rika's body cringe. Bell rung loudly and brought her out of her past and back to the present.

She moved to the gate and opened it. She found Henry standing there, and for a moment her heart began to beat a little faster. "I'm sorry Rika, I'm not here because of that. We haven't found anything yet, but err, can we talk?"

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Takato had already run quite away, passing several places he knew well, his school old and home. Places that held a lot of good memories, and some very crazy ones and until recently he had thought that they were all he would very have of his friend.

He finally arrived at the apartment Henry's family called home, and practically choked himself, due the excitement he was feeling, when as he asked Henry's father where Henry was.

"I have no idea where Henry is" said Mr Wong.

"You have to have some idea, I need to speak to him, and it's a life and death situation" Takato replied, rather flustered.

Mr Wong tried to think, he didn't hate his son and it wasn't that he disliked him; it was just that things between them had been stained lately and part of him understood why. The sound of his wife coming up behind him to see who was at the door brought Mr Wong from his thoughts.

When she saw Takato, she knew who he was and why he was here and her husband obviously hadn't caught on. The look in the boy's eyes told her that something important was happening, it was the same look of enthusiasm that Henry had when he spoke of Terriermon and their friendship. "I suppose you want to know where Henry is, Takato?"

"Ah…yeah I do actually, do you know where he went?" said Takato, only just remembering to add a small bow to his request.

"Well, he said something about going to see Miss Nonaka" _Miss Nonaka? Who is?_

"Oh of course, Rika! Thank you Mrs Wong" He bowed again and ran around the corner.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Mr Wong asked, more to himself than anyone else.

Mrs Wong watched as her husband returned to their living room in a daze.

Janyu had not slept well recently, so perhaps that was the reason he had missed something so obvious, the possibility that Takato had found what it was that they had spent so long searching for. It was dangerous and hopefully Henry would talk him out of anything too risky.

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Just less than two years ago he had been in charge of the top secrete organisation known as Hypnos. Hypnos was originally intended to track the complex interchanges of digital information across cyberspace, a watchdog against digitally preformed crimes, and a dream to stand against the nightmare of hackers, hoaxes and thieves, among other things.

A dream polluted by the creation of something not seen before, digital life forms.

It had certainly not been in his job description to perform impossible feats, like the ones he was asked to deal with on a daily basis. But the fools in the cabinet, who he reported to, had asked him to do just that.

The order he had been given was simple; at least it seemed so at first, prevent Digimon from entering the real world and deal with those that had already appeared.

He had failed to realise that the Digimon were much smarter than anyone guessed them to be. Eventually after everything was said and done, he had tried his best under the circumstances, and almost lost any reputation he had worked so hard to create and protect.

He found himself suddenly thrust into a maelstrom of gargantuan size, a tide of events that would test him to the limits of his mental endurance, and it had almost sent him over the edge of his sanity. He had almost lost it, and he could have lost so much more, if it hadn't been for the monster maker's help in defeating the D-reaper.

His situation hadn't been any rosier, even after the D-reaper had been destroyed and the Digimon return to their own world. After the dust had settled it seemed as though he would finally be able to get back to a normal job. But it wasn't to be.

It seemed the governments involved in the Hypnos experiment had decided that their priority was to wrap up the situation as quickly as possible. They must have been formulating a plan on how to cover things up neatly from the beginning. They planted a number of news stories to begin explaining away all that had happened over the last few months.

The public were never told about the digital world and its inhabitants, or about what the D-reaper's true goal was, or why it was doing it. Governments rarely very gave the whole true to anyone. They definitely didn't want to give people the idea that there was another world on our doorstep, from which monstrous, uncontrollable beasts could come forth at any time to destroy us.

The D-Reaper was well known for being used by many countries as a form of waste management in their computer systems, especially in Governmental departments such as the ministry of defence. It had been quite easy to create the façade that the D-reaper had absorbed a Digimon A.L.P that had found its way in from a redundant data bank. They obviously didn't want anyone to know that there were thousands of them living in cyberspace, and who would?

They then used Hypnos as a scapegoat blaming their 'incompetence' for allowing the 'infected' D-reaper the chance to escape and cause havoc. Of course the man in charge was also blamed and 'fired' from his posting. It made him sick to his stomach.

They hadn't actually removed him or any of his staff at that point because they felt that it was too soon to make those kinds of decisions. They might as well have handed him his redundancy slip right then, and give him a cheap gold watch as a going away present.

He knew they had already decided that his fate was no longer their concern. It would take four months for them to, finally, give him the boot. They weren't as nasty about it as they could have been, but he still felt some resentment.

The Digimon themselves were said to have been created by a government funded team, whose mandate was to create beings capable of fighting against aberrations, and the fact it was the absorption of one such Digimon that caused the D-Reaper to develop a rudimentary intelligence and go rampant was an unfortunate mistake. Another example of what they were calling Hypnos's incompetence.

D-reaper was rampant, yes, but certainly did not have a rudimentary intelligence; it was possibly the biggest threat to mankind since the creation of the atomic bomb and biological weaponry. Anyone who thought that it was anything but deadly was most likely out of his tiny mind.

The public had no idea what the Digimon really were, apart from creatures based roughly on a child's game, and they had no idea that Takato and his friends were involved in the fight at all. The Government denied that the Digimon themselves had survived the battle, trying to put people's minds at rest by reporting that they had been destroyed by excessive damage, and eventually deleted.

They also reported that the experiments regarding A.L.P, or Artificial. Life. Programs were simply too hazardous to continue.

Hypnos was also too much of a gamble to remain in the public domain. The government was every quick indeed to close the whole thing down, it wouldn't of course but appearances are everything. Yamaki had already heard rumours that the equipment would simply be moved and set up somewhere relatively quickly, Hypnos would go on under another name.

Of course a lot of conspiracy theories had popped up about the whole disastrous affair. Yamaki had heard several already, and some were closer to the truth than they realised and others were just plain foolishness.

An example would be that the D-reaper and the Digimon were advanced weapon designs pitted against each other in a live fire exercise that went wrong. Another theory was that were alien life forms from another world come to enslave us. Yamaki suddenly wasn't sure what had him sicker, the gullibility of the public or the stupidity of the Government itself?

It had taken only a few months for the government to decide that the smoke had cleared enough to move Yamaki as far away from their project as possible.

Yamaki had known that this was coming, and who wouldn't have known, so he had made a plan with Janyu Wong. He would joining the monster makers, who were planning to create a number of small personal projects, in whatever spare time they had for their own personal time, agreeing to meet once every two weeks or so to collaborate on various Digimon related projects.

Yamaki wasn't entirely happy with the arrangement, but it would do until he could find another job elsewhere, not that he was in any particular hurry to do so. The time he spent at Hypnos may not have been entirely pleasant, but the pay was extraordinarily high, he could probably be able to live for the next three or four years without having to go to work.

He wasn't really the kind of person, to spend so much time doing nothing, so with the help of Janyu and the monster makers, he created a firewall between the Real and Digital worlds. It was exquisite, designed to prevent humans from entering the digital world and Digimon from entering the real world. It was still a work in progress, but it did its job, everyone seemed happy that it was working so flawlessly, well almost everyone. Takato and I both discovered a Digital warp near where his Digimon used to live, he and I didn't quite see eye to eye, and we each had opposing opinions.

He tried to argue that the warp might grow big enough for him to go to the digital world and get his Digimon back, but by then the firewall was up and running. The firewall prevented anyone from being taken to the digital world against his or her will, or even by your own will.

If you tried to enter one on your own, it would stop you by sealing the breach; tests of the system had proved it was still too unreliable at that point. The system could accidentally take a human life, if the system was not correctly adjusted. None of us want to create something that is designed to end life, be it human or Digimon life.

The breach is unstable even now, and given its strength, and unpredictability it might be along time until we can open the door again and not get burned. I know Henry Wong wants to create an ark specifically designed to be able to cross between the two worlds, but with how things are going right now, I doubt that he will see any proper results for a long time yet.

I ordered the concrete hut that had once been Guilmon's home, to be surround by a concrete barrier just encase Takato tries to do something we all might regretted.

The last thing that Yamaki was asked to do for Hypnos, was to run a few last tests on the systems used to monitor the network. When he reported back to them that there was no trace of the Digital world, the smile that graced the chief cabinet's face was a confirmation of what he already knew. They would get rid of him without a second thought.

As far as they were concerned, the Digimon had returned to their world and that was that. The fact that there seemed to be no hope of return for them seemed to confirm a lot of what little his superiors understood. He was told that they were satisfied that there would be no more uninvited guests for the foreseeable future.

Yamaki hoped they were right. The board must have believed that the operation was a success and that Digital threat had been neutralized. He was told to leave three days later. He was actually quite glad to be out of it, to be perfectly honest.

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Six days earlier.

The digital world was suffering a catastrophe, and it seemed as though nothing could be done about it, even the Sovereigns could not understand or stop what was happening.

The Digital world, which had so carefully, so slowly but surely been repaired and rebuilt, was now closing in on its own oblivion. The digital world was a system of interconnected regions of compacted data that interacted with any thing that came in contact with it.

Long ago Azulongmon had contemplated that the digital world itself was alive, but numerous investigations had failed to prove that, and even if it was it did not have an awareness of its own.

The digimon believed that they were safe, once their true enemy had been destroyed, and it had taken months for the Sovereigns to restore the Digital world to its former glory. It looked as though the Digimon would never have to face such a threat again, but it seems as though the digital world would never be without one impending doom or another. _I guess it is just our rotten luck._ Azulongmon thought to himself.

The digital world still had it's secrets. The digital world may have existed longer than anyone could tell. The Sovereigns were the original programs created by the monster makers, and after they were no longer required or useful they were simple erased, or it was more accurate to say that an erasure was attempted.

Damaged and for all they knew betrayed by their creators, they were guided by unknown entities, that would later be named the DigiGnomes, to a place where they could be left in peace. The programs that eventually would evolve into the Sovereigns discovered that the Digital World had limitless potential.

The Programs discovered that in this strange world they could create, for themselves, physical bodies in which they could interact with the data around them. The bodies they formed were relatively simple versions of their real world counterparts. Soon due to the massive amount of information they had acquired, the programs grew larger and more complex. Ultimately they became the first true digimon, although true in the sense of how they were now.

This world was perfect for their needs. They used the original lines of code that formed them to create new Digimon, copies that possessed all their knowledge, and were capable of making great leaps in evolution and intelligence. The original Digimon themselves, being the first and wisest took a new name for themselves. They became the Sovereigns, protectors of the digital world.

The Four newly _anointed_ Sovereigns split the digital world into parts, that each would rule over, and in times of great need they would met to discuss any problems that arose.

The Sovereigns were at first, happy with what they had created, but that didn't last. So there were thousands of these copies, but with no individuality to them. They were not unique or capable to choosing their own destiny. They simply were.

This troubled the Sovereigns greatly; with no diversity their race would become stagnant, long before they had a chance to accomplish anything. An army of clones could not produce one work of genius, or perform one act of individual growth. It was during this crisis that their greatest fear was realised. The Enemy had come.

The one who had been dispatched to kill them had followed them here to this place of refuge. It deleted all that stood before it, and pretty soon the Sovereigns realised the error of creating clones of themselves, that shared their full knowledge and data.

He signed, we Sovereigns have made so many misjudgements, and you would have thought we would have learned by now. If you copy a mistake enough times, eventually it comes around and bits you in the ass. _Perhaps when I attend the meeting tomorrow, I can help avoid one such mistake._

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"What is it you want to talk about, Henry?" Rika spoke, allowing a small amount of concern to creep into her voice. It didn't take a genius to realise what was troubling him.

Rika had grown up during her adventures together with Henry, Takato and the others.

She realised how narrow minded she had been. Using taming Digimon as an excuse to run away from her problems with her mother, and eventually from her own feelings.

Rika knew she couldn't change who she was, and she wouldn't if she could help it. This was her true self, no matter what hell she had been through in her life. She had always been at odds with people, and it was scary interacting with them again. If she had to guess, then it was obvious that Henry was afflicted in the same way she was.

"Rika, I…?" Henry began, but Rika cut him off. "Henry, it's about you and your dad, isn't it?"

Henry smiled at her weakly "That obvious, huh?" She had seen that lost and lonely look before, in her own eyes, when looking in the mirror. For a moment she felt herself feeling very sympathetic, but she quickly cast the emotion aside, she calmed herself down.

"Henry look, I don't have any advice for you. Whatever the problem is, your going to have to find a solution on your own!" she looked right at him and tried her best to pull a face which would let him know that she didn't want to talk about 'that kind of stuff'. She knew where that conversation would lead.

"Rika please, I have no idea what to do" He began to pace up and down. "I wanted to ask you how you've lasted so long?". Rika began to feel disturbed by the familiarity of the situation, the memories it was invoking in her, despite her attempts to block them out. She had never wanted anyone to know the way she had treated her mother.

"How did you go from day to day without feeling this pain?" Henry looked like he was either about to cry in frustration or scream in anger. Henry knew enough about Rika's strained relationship with her mother, part of Rika wanted to tell Henry to go away and not talk as though he knew anything about her problems.

Things had actually gotten a lot better with her mother, over the last few months. Although their was still some stuff that would keep them apart. She didn't want to tell anyone how rigorous it had been before then. Henry had helped her once so she decided to return the favour, just this once.

"Henry, look, there is nothing to tell." His face fell a little so she continued "You really only have three choices; forgiveness, ignorance or rebellion."

"Ignorance? Or rebellion?" Henry asked, she realised that he had no clue as to where this conversation was headed. She felt her temper begin to get the better of her. She knew he wouldn't just choose to forgive. It wasn't in his nature, and was probably too hard, the hardest of all the choices.

"Yes Henry, I suppose you want me to join the dots for you?"

For a brief moment she saw fear and hesitation, but for only a moment, before it was replaced by the realisation that from now on, nothing would be quite the same in his life. He nodded once.

Rika wondered for a moment how it could be that she had become so good at reading him. Rika knew, most of the time, exactly what Jeri and Takato were thinking or going to do. Henry however, could sometimes think in different ways, so it was harder to read him. It might have been a result of bio merging with Renamon. She couldn't be sure.

"Ignorance is pretty simple. All you have to do is be civil to him, but never allow yourself to feel for him again. Basically you have to become cold when talking to him. You can never show him how you feel" she heard a small gasp escape him as he realised full meaning of her words. It was like he had been hit in the stomach, but he nodded and asked "and Rebellion?"

"Rebellion is a much more drastic course of action than ignorance. You have to change yourself from within, it's all about dubbing down parts of your personality and magnifying others".

Henry stood motionlessly for several minutes; he allowed himself the luxury of considering what his life had been like up to this point. The good and bad times that he had shared with his father. He would have called himself happy at one point. He was part of a large family. He had friends, not many friends, but they were good ones.

Henry could not help but hate part of himself for not realising that his father had an alternate motive for scanning Terriermon, more than he had said. As much as Henry loved his father, and as much as his father loved his family, Henry could not distract himself from the knowledge that his dad was capable of lying so readily about something that important.

" What does it feel like?" Henry asked her finally. Almost as if he knew which path she had taken, even though she wasn't sure herself.

Rika responded, she felt, from the deepest truth. "Henry, I won't lie to you, it hurts… a lot." He nodded "It hurts like nothing you can describe, for a long while, but eventually it stops hurting as bad, but you never forget what it feels like." He nodded again with more conviction this time. He looked like he had come to a decision, but there was one more thing she had to say.

"And even if you eventually get over it, it will change you forever, you have to decide if this is exactly what you want because it is very hard change what you've said and done. It may be that you'll never get back to who you were".

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Five days earlier.

"This is foolishness, Azulongmon, how can you float there and ignore the possibility, that I am right?" The situation was pretty direr, and the council of Sovereigns, had once again been assembled to deal with the situation. Zhuqiaomon was once again showing his prejudice towards humans, blaming them for this situation.

The Sovereigns had the right to rule each of their domains however they saw fit, without the need to consult with anyone else. However in situations that threaten all areas of the digital world, action of any kind had to be voted on by the Sovereigns.

The Sovereigns had met in council many times, each time one of the their own homes had been used for the meeting. This time it was Azulongmon's, which was being occupied all four of the Sovereigns.

One a month, for the last twelve months, they had met to discuss a problem of great importance to all who called he digital world home.

"Are you trying to accuse me of being foolish?" Azulongmon asked in his normal tones, giving his fellow Sovereign the chance to explain himself. It was Baihumon who spoke instead.

"Azulongmon, you have always been most trusting than the rest of us, however the possibility that the humans are connected to this strange phenomena must be investigated, will you at least consider that?"

"What is there to consider?" Ebonwumon said, in his irish accent, which poured from his left head. "I don't believe that his is the humans doing this too us, they wouldn't harm us after all that's happened" his right head finished in its scottish one.

"Doing us harm-" He almost laugh "they have done nothing to us, but do us harm, how can you" He shook his head in disgust. During the purging, they narrowly escaped, Zhuqiaomon was the one who had received the most damage and he never forgot that. Anything the humans did was a catalyst for his hatred to come spilling forth.

"Your personnel _vendetta_ against the humans, is well known, have you considered that it is clouding your judgement?" Ebonwumon _a_sked.

Buihumon lifted his hand to another outburst. "Stop it, still agree with Zhuqiaomon, it is better to check out all the possibilities before we make any kind of judgement, besides, if the humans are involved, they may not be evening doing it intentionally."

He took a good long look at the two opposed Sovereigns. " It is better than doing nothing as our world is eaten out from under us?"

"We must vote on it again?" Azulongmon asked. He was tired of the constant debate.

"Yes, we must!" Zhuqiaomon throwing his flame covered head backwards, which was his equivalent of a shrug, as he too was bored of the constant rattling of sabres between the four of them. This had gone on for far too long.

"Alright then" Azulongmon said "you have five minutes to decide." Everyone entered a calming state of _meditation_, designed to allowing the recipients to reflect upon the decision at hand.

The Government of the Digital World was designed to be a balance. Four Sovereigns, four votes. Many times in the past the council had been called to vote on some of the most desperate situations in the Digital worlds history.

The system had worked perfectly well for almost every situation they had voted on. The last time the council was assembled was during the time leading up to the D-reaper's resurrection.

The council had voted 3 to 1 against, taking action in the real world, against the humans. Zhuqiaomon, of course had chosen to ignore the council's decision, sending his servants 'the Devas' to attack the humans.

Each of the Sovereigns were allow to have a number of dedicated servants, the only one who had a permanent group of them was Zhuqiaomon, who had always preferred to distance himself from the lesser duties that came with his position. Although it was to be said that Zhuqiaomon was no coward, and was quite ready to fight for his beliefs.

After five minutes had pasted Azulongmon spoke. "Fellow Sovereigns, choose your votes carefully, as the decision you make today as profound consequences on the future of all digital life in our world". He breathed deeply for a moment before continuing. "In regards to the investigation into the mysterious phenomenon endangering our world, should we attempt to investigate a possible human instigated cause in the 'real world? '? Be it deliberate or accidental?"

He had made up his decision long ago, so he was naturally the first to speak, using the ancient formal speech used by all the Sovereigns when forming policy and voting.

"I, Zhuqiaomon, Guardian of the Southern region of the Digital World, respectfully vote. Yes, that we must investigate any possible cause of our situation. I assure you, that I am not blind". The phrase '_unlike some digimon!_' was clearly something he was itching to say, by the look on his face.

"I, Azulongmon, is the Guardian of the Eastern region of the Digital World, Respectfully vote. No, we have caused problems there by acting with too much haste and not enough thought."

It was Baihumon's turn to vote. "I, Baihumon, Guardian of the Western region of the Digital World and youngest of the Sovereigns, respectfully vote. Yes, every avenue of investigation must be exhausted before we decide what to do and what not to do".

Finally Ebonwumon spoke. "I, Ebonwumon, Guardian of the Northern region of the Digital World and the oldest of the Sovereigns." The Irish head said, "Respectfully vote, No, for the same reason as Buihumon. We need to rule out all possibilities in our own world before we go gallivanting off into someone else's." His Scottish head said.

It was two votes against two votes for the 12th vote running, it had to be a record.

Zhuqiaomon looked livid. Azulongmon, knew that the longer this situation was left unresolved the less time they had to solve this mystery and save their world.

Azulongmon decided that he had no choice but to invoke the only method available to them, when they were required to break a deadlock that had must be broken.

Azulongmon looked at the only Digimon who it could be claimed were his equals.

He spoke with more confidence than he felt. "I, Azulongmon, Guardian of the Southern region of the Digital World. Respectfully request that we seek a way to break our deadlock, the only way we know how"

The rest of the Sovereign Digimon wore equally shocked looks on their faces.

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The Present

Henry had been acting less and less like himself than usual. Rika noticed that as the weeks had gone by. He stood there and looked as though he was seriously considering what she had told him, which was a really bad sign in itself. The fact that he wasn't rejecting it, out of hand when he heard the details, were far worse.

Rika was still debating with herself as to whether she was willing to allow Henry to decide for himself, or tell him not to go through with it when he spoke up. "I have no idea what to do, I don't even want to know if I would have the strength to do it, I need more time to think"

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Takato was exhausted, when he finally found himself opposite Rika's home, and he had not been so exhausted in his life before. The truth was that the tiredness, the stitch in his left side, and the ache in his feet was nothing compared to the empty feeling inside when he had allowed himself to begin to believe he would never see Guilmon ever again.

The pain reminded him of what had been lost, and could never return, it also reminded him of how much there still was to go. He was only a couple of feet from the large doors that were the entrance, when the one nearest to him opened, almost smacking him in the face. He lost his balance, and barely managing to stop himself from hitting the hard cobbled surface of the street.

"Takato, you look terrible", a boy said. "what happened to you?", a girl asked. Takato looked up to find both Rika and Henry staring down at him, with some concern etched into their features, and he realised that he must be quite the sight.

Takato was about to ask if they could help him up; when both Rika and Henry lifted him up by his shoulders, and he realised that he didn't need to ask. They were his friends.

Slowly they guided him into the house. They lifted him just enough so his legs could recover from his long run. It was then that it hit him how much simpler it would have been if he had just gone home and called them on the phone instead of trying to run the distance. But he wanted to see their faces and hadn't really thought it though.

Rika helped Henry get Takato comfortably, sitting him down on the couch, and by the looks of his sweaty clothes and stained shoes, he must have run half the length of the city before eight o'clock. Henry both took seats opposite him.

Rika didn't actually think that much about Takato had suddenly decided that long distance running was a good idea for a new hobby. But if they were to find out why, then it would be best to calm him down first.

She would have gone to get him some tea or something, if it wasn't for the fact that her grandmother hadn't just walked through the door carrying three fresh hot cups of tea.

She deposited the cups. "Oh, guests, I'll see if I can find some more cups" she said as she smiled and left the room. Leaving the children to discuss whatever it was, that had brought that nice Matsuki boy here in such a state.

Seiko felt a little guilty for spying on her granddaughter's conversations, but Rika had never really said that much, even to her. It wasn't that often that one got to see who the real Rika was.

What really amazed Seiko was the fact that Rika had told Henry anything at all. Rika had kept a lot of things close to her chest, especially her anger at her parents divorce, she seemed happy before that.

Had Rika been happy before? Seiko had asked herself many times, and answer had always been yes. So why was it so disturbing? The answer to that one was the same as ever, Rika had been happy before and after, but the fact that she had let go of her child like ways had been distressing.

It was heart breaking when she asked what had happened to the Rika she thought of in the past. Maybe that was just the problem with growing up.

Rika and Takato helped Henry to the sofa, and then took seats opposite him, giving him a few minutes of rest.

Takato was completely different from Rika and Henry. While Henry was quite, confident and emotionally calm in almost everything, Takato was very capable of getting himself into trouble. Takato was someone who liked to live life to the fullest and was quite intelligent when he put his mind to it.

She was shocked, one day, when she woke up and realised that she actually enjoyed both Takato and Henry's company. She remember how she had actually gotten angry because they kept on at her about how Digimon were more than just data, but they were right.

Maybe she liked them because, unlike so many other people they accepted her for the person she was, and never bothered her when she seemed out of sorts. They could still be a pain. A good example was how Takato insisted that he had had a dream about her. But she wouldn't change them for anything in the world.

"Are you alright now, Takato?" Henry said. Rika notice slight red patches under Henry's eyes. For the first time since he had arrived she really notices that he had been crying before he came to see her.

Rika looked closely at Takato now, and noted the same puffy eyed look to him, and without even looking in the mirror she knew that she looked a similar way. The last couple of years had taken its toll on all of them.

"I'm alright Henry," said Takato with a small grin on his face.

"What exactly are you doing running all the way from yours to-, your wet through!" Rika asked with her own version of a grin twisting her normally serious features, trying in her own way, to remind Takato that he looked like an entire sewer full of drowned rats.

"I have been 'running around getting wet', because…" He let the sentence hang for a moment "I found it"

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To be continued…

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So there you go, the first chapter is up. There maybe some rewrites in the future, for this story, but changes will be minor. Depending or what my beta tells me.

Note 1: I have finally decided to return to working on this fic, while I have time, a lot of bad things have happened over the last year, so many apologies to everyone who has read my first chapter and liked it. Chapter two is coming (today, tomorrow or perhaps Wednesday) and three and four are in the planning and partly written stages.

Note 2: this thing is finally spell checked.  I have also restructured it a bit to make it easier to understand and added more detail where it needed a little something.  


	2. Chapter 2

Waiting for eternity, and not a moment longer

**Digimon Tamers: Eternity and not a moment longer.**

Chapter 2 – Potential avenues.

"You what?" Henry asked, with his jaw hanging open.

"I found it! A portal leading back to the digital world," Takato said.

"Where?" Rika asked with a shocked squeak, which was quite unlike her.

"Do you remember the tunnel we used to let our Digimon sleep in when they were too big to hide anywhere closer?"

"There?" She jumped up, running towards the doors that lead further inside her home. They followed her, not really understanding what she was doing, and ended up in her room. She proceeded to rummage through her wardrobe.

She turned back to them and realised they were there, and gave them a quick scowl.

She moved swiftly and before either of the boys knew it, Rika had hustled them back outside her door and disappeared back inside. "Stay there," Rika said menacingly, as though half expecting them to run off without her.

They both just stared at each other in silence for a minute and listened as a number of loud thumps, groans of _exhaustion and frustration filtered through the thick wooden walls._

Takato was the first to speak. "Henry, do you have any idea of what Rika's doing?"

"I don't want to jump the gun, but I think Rika has gone off the deep end!" Henry replied rather straight-faced, but obviously worried.

"Huh?" Takato responded without much thought.

A few minutes later Rika came out of her room, dressed in a clean T-shirt. Henry wondered why, but then remembered the dirt on the otherwise white material of the one she had just been wearing. He immediately noticed that the shirt sported a complete, violent heart, which matched her eye colour.

"So are we going or what? I mean it's not that late yet, maybe we can go and get back before anyone notices we're gone." Rika said with a sharp edge of need in her voice.

"What? Rika, I want to go get Guilmon back just as much as you want Renamon back, but we've got to think about this. I know we've talk a lot, and planned a bit, about what we would do if we found a way back, but we can't rush into this!" Takato said, pulling Henry along with him, back to Rika's living room.

"W…why not?" Rika stammered, overtaking them and plonking herself down on a chair, with bemusement written on her face.

Henry cut her off, not allowing her the chance to argue further, and deciding to try to appeal to the better angels of Rika's nature. Henry felt slightly guilty for pulling on her perceived weaknesses, but deep down he knew that Rika would not want to leave without telling her grandma where she was going.

"Rika," Henry said, getting of his seat and walking over to her, and placing a hand on her shoulder, "we can't just run off right now. We should at least tell someone where we're going to, or at least leave a note. I know that you and I are not on best terms with our parents right now, but it's the right thing to do, even if we don't necessarily tell them directly."

"I think it would be a good idea, it wouldn't be fair if we didn't at least tell them what's happening, even if it's after we've left. Someone needs to know where we've gone!" Takato said reasonably as Rika sighed to herself. "That's what we planned to do, right?"

Rika looked as though she wanted to hit both of them around the head a couple of times for tempting her to leave right now, and then giving her perfectly a logical reason not too.

She ultimately knew they were right not to go without telling someone where. Her grandma for one would probably suffer a stroke if she just disappeared without a trace, or without leaving something behind encase something bad happened.

Rika sighed. "Alright, I get your point, Henry!" Her demeanour became less intense and a weak smile appeared at the edges of her lips.

"Have you told anyone else you found a gate?" Henry asked Takato, a little relieved that Rika hadn't tried to persuade them into going right away, although part of him would have seen it as a chance to get away from his other concerns.

_Like our parents reactions to when they find out about this_, Takato found himself thinking.

"No, I didn't get much of a chance to talk to anyone, and I figured you would want to be the first to know, so I tried to find you and…" Henry looked sternly at him, as though Takato had said something wrong.

"Hey, wait a minute, how did you know I was here, this isn't anywhere near my house!" Henry said quickly, adding two and two together.

"Well, I went to your house first, and your mom told me you had come here and so I came here next." Takato was not exactly good at thinking straight, even at the best of times, but even he realised that Henry's father might not be pleased if Henry went into a dangerous situation without telling him.

Takato didn't want to think of the consequences if Henry ran off without his dad's permission. Takato was present when Mr Wong admitted that he had known what the price of victory against D-reaper might be, without even discussing it with the tamers and even his own son first. It was at that moment that Takato fully understood what the true price of victory had been for Henry; he had lost his friend and father in a few swift moments.

Takato noticed that Rika had withdrawn into herself, perhaps she was thinking the same thing he was, and the biggest tragedy of the whole thing was that Henry and his dad may never be the same again.

Henry was thinking for a moment what his dad would say, if he learned they had found a way back to their friends?

_I don't want to think about that. _He thought.His Father didn't understand what it was Henry was trying to say, and could not understand why he couldn't forgive him just yet. _Just give me space to do what I need to, dad._

He knocked those thoughts aside. He could think about what to say after they had sorted everything out. He returned his attention to his friends.

"The question becomes, who do we tell and how much, and who and what should we bring along?" Henry asked.

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Five Days Earlier

"I, Azulongmon, Guardian of the Southern region of the Digital World. Respectfully request that we seek a way to break our deadlock, the only way we know how."

The rest of the Digimon Sovereigns wore identical looks on their faces, and it was two faces in Ebonwumon's case. They were obviously quite shocked at the request Azulongmon had made. It was not unheard of, but shocking just the same.

Azulongmon had hoped to have convinced Baihumon to join his side and break the deadlock that had been impossed upon the council, which had brought digital law, and the investigation into the damage being done to the digital world, to a standstill for months. This was his last chance to prevent, what he saw as a accident waiting to happen, but it was a terrible gamble.

Azulongmon observed the other three, with keen interest, the formal rules for these procedings were now in complete effect. They all knew how these things were meant to play out.

Ebonwumon was first to speak, his right head extending forward and upwards into a more authorterian position, "Azulongmon. You know how this works, first all parties must agree to honour the verdict of the one who will cast the deciding vote," the left head followed the right, "and understand that there will be no more talking, arguing or voting afterward. That all will work together to carry out the will of the council."

"I, Azulongmon, agree to the terms we set down to ensure that the Digital World is protected from fractionalism among those who were charged to protect it."

Slowly the other Sovereigns agreed to break their inability to make a decision, by looking to a being whose knowledge was greater than their own, without the biases that clouded their own judgements.

"I, Ebonwumon, Guardian of the Northern region of the Digital World, will carry out the duty I have been given. The others must prepare themselves, for in a little while, our deadlock will be broken and-," the next few words he uttered were slow and deliberiate, knowing that they all understood what it all meant, "then the council must act."

After the others had left, Azulongmon slowly reconsidered his options and hoped that he had made the right decision, knowing that if things did go badly, it might cause just such an accident, as the one he was trying to prevent.

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Takato nodded his head, and saw Rika do the same. He couldn't agree more with what Henry had said, they should put as much thought into how they were going to do things as much as possible.

Things had not turned out very well the first time they had gone into the digital world.

And that had lead to the Leomon's death. Takato didn't blame anyone for what had happened back then, it should never have been allowed to happen, but it had_._

_We didn't try hard enough. I won't let it again; _Takato decided that he would make sure that it wouldn't.

"Guy's, I know you know it as well as I do, but I want to make sure we're on the ball this time. No mistakes and no losing anyone, you got it?" Takato said with steel in his voice, daring them to stop him from making his wishes clear.

Rika was about to say something when Henry spoke first. "I understand exactly how you feel Takato, and your right. No mistakes," he turned to Rika "right Rika?"

Rika was startled but she spoke with determination, equal to that of her friends, in her voice. "Right. No mistakes, and we don't leave until we have everyone, and god help any obstacle that gets in our way, Digimon or…human!"

Slowly they planned together, deciding that they would not tell anyone anything until last minute. Henry and Takato decided they would leave a letter in their rooms.

They had to be careful, if any of the monster makers worked out what was going on, they might try to stop them and they couldn't allow that.

They agreed that as much of a tamer Suzie might be, that she had survived the digital world was a minor miracle. They decided they would tell her they were going but not actually take her with them. Henry hoped she would understand.

Somehow Henry and Takato easily convinced Rika that they should let Kazu and Kenta come along. Takato thought she could actually be considered to be in quite a mellow mood, as she only protested slightly to them being included, until Takato had asked about Ryo that is.

He quickly wished that he hadn't. At the mention of his name, her demeanour changed dramatically. In fact before that point they probably could have gotten Rika to agree to wear a dress without any problem, but now that she had been snapped out of her good mood she was downright disagreeable.

He looked away from her for a moment, feeling a little put out now.

It wasn't as though their history was that deep, but Takato had noticed that Ryo only needed to make the smallest of comments to make Rika see red.

Rika looked like she could have throttled him. Takato quickly darted behind a cup of tea that Rika's grandma had given them; it was not quite piping hot, so he took a long drink. A moment later he could have added it to the long list of things he shouldn't have done that particular evening.

"Do we really have to invite him along? Kenta and Kazu are bad enough, but if he comes along, they're be singing his praises so loudly that you'll think they want to agree to be his wives or something!" Rika said it with such a straight face it was unbelievable.

Takato however managed to choke, as well as get half of his tea on the floor, as he fought to spit it out.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Takato managed to cry out as he tried to catch his breath._The tea must be cursed_, he thought.

"Only if you keep mentioning 'him'." She said with a touch of satisfaction on her lips. It was obvious that she wanted to make Takato pay for reminding her of her second least favourite person in the universe, and thankfully, Takato could take a hint.

Henry, however still wanted to resolve the issue. "Rika, I know you and Ryo have had your differences in the past, but he doesn't actually seem to have done you any harm except bruise your self-esteem a tiny bit."

Rika just returned his emotionless stare for a moment before ploughing on with her response. "But, its not like we really need him!" She said in her most unreasonable tones, trying to get them to change their minds through sheer force of will.

Takato noticed that Henry's features were softening a little as he tried to reason with her; the problem with Rika was that she often looked at people from a single unyielding, unchanging point of view.

"Rika, I would have thought you would have seen Ryo's value, not only to helping us get our friends back, but to you personally?" Henry spoke with confidence, Takato couldn't quite get what he was talking about. Rika wore a similar mask of confusion, it was clear that Henry's train of thought was lost on her too.

"What are you trying to say, Henry?" Rika asked with some degree of anger behind her words.

Henry could tell that Rika had not really considered having a worthy opponent as an advantage, only seeing her own failure, and covering that defeat with a veneer of dislike aimed toward the person who beat her.

"What I am trying to say, Rika, is that if you become unbeatable at something and there's no challenge left, then there's nothing left to aim for. Ryo may not be your favourite person, but at least it gives you someone to practice on, especially if he did beat you through skill."

Henry saw a small glimmer of increasing respect and what looked like resentment floating in Rika's violet eyes. He found it difficult to tell which was greater.

"Or even just got lucky!" Takato added quickly, hoping to stop Rika before she got really mad.

"I never really thought about it like that." She said her anger appearing to cool, at least enough for Henry to continue on to the real reason he wanted Ryo to come along.

"Rika, I know you can handle yourself in a fight. Takato and I are pretty good at fighting too, and you know that, but Ryo knows more about the digital world than perhaps any other human."

Takato chimed in, "I think Henry might be right on this Rika, the quicker we find our way through the digital world, the faster we can get back home. I mean, he was stuck there all that time, he probably knows it inside and out."

"Ok, I'll admit that bringing him along is a good idea, but there's just something about that guy, that just gets on my wick." Rika admitted.

"I know that you won't like it, but it makes a lot of sense." Henry added for good measure.

Takato remembered that there were two more tamers to consider in this venture, Impmon's tamers, Ai and Mako. Takato asked Henry what he wanted to do about them.

"Maybe one of us should go talk to them about it, I mean it's not like we know that much about them, but I have a feeling that it would be as unwise to bring them along as it would be to bring Suzie."

Takato and Henry both turned towards Rika, giving her a hopeful smile, she slowly backed away shaking her head and holding up her arms. "I'm not doing it, you can find somebody else."

"Well, it was worth a try, I guess you'll just have to do it Takato."

Takato pointed to himself and asked, "You want me to do it?"

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**Some time ago**.

The trap had slid shut quite nicely. He surveyed the scene before him with his reptilian eyes, while the parts of him that were machine whirled to examine every detail of his personnel guard and of his lone captive. He was satisfied that nothing was amiss.

Digimon always value strength above all else, and who said that strength couldn't come in many different shapes and sizes?

_No one! _He answered himself. Knowledge can contain enough power to make any Digimon a god! Not that he wanted to be a god, just someone who was worthy of respect and protection.

Valuable knowledge becomes even more valuable when one can destroy it and leave nothing behind for others to use to recreate it. He was a conveyor of the knowledge, knowledge of how Digimon could travel past the rim of the digital world, and into another place. A place, he knew could potentially give them infinite power.

_How to get there has always eluded me though, _he thought. He had seen it done, but only the most powerful beings in this world knew how, and had the power to do it. What he needed was shortcut.

Long ago he had lost the ability to fight, his data had been damaged somehow, and he had long given up hope that he would be able to regain his lost power. A Digimon that couldn't fight was either not worthy of consideration, or bait.

One of the Digimon who was in his service, came to within a few feet of him, and bowed respectfully. "My Lord, the prisoner is secure. Do I have permission to take him," there was a moment of hesitation, then he continued, "to the labs?"

The speaker was a machine Digimon, a MetalTyrannomon, big and powerful. So you might ask, why is an ultimate level bowing respectfully and calling me lord? I am only at the champion level, so why? _He knows the reward of service! _

He is a criminal, like I am. He knows that eventually he will be trapped and deleted for his crimes against life, digital life of course. So he is looking for a way to escape his fate, and thus he comes to me. He wants a way to leave this world. _As others have done._ I have not found the key to it yet. _But I will!_

_I tell him to proceed with a curt nod, and he carries out his orders, just as should be._ "Pick up the unused cages and move out, make sure to keep our 'guest' under supervision."

The Gorillamon they had captured during the night was slowly hauled away, cage and all. _A feral grin spreads across my lips, each time I examine a Digimon who has been to the other world, I get closer to what I seek. But I know most of them do not survive the examination procedure. It's a shame!_

Why do I insist they call me Lord Reptalus? Remember the Sovereigns? Sovereign is not a name, but a title and it guarantees that when a Digimon mentions it, they know who they are and to speak with respect.

I have heard that humans use names and not races to distinguish themselves, to make themselves unique. I am a Digimon who cannot fight, am I not unique?

The Digimon who were doing his bidding were a mixed bunch of Machine, Insectoid, and afew Nightmare Soldier class digimon. The problem with most digimon was that they refuse to work with anyone else, but those who are their own type and level. _Many of them tend to be more brawn than brains!_

These two facts meant that you could rarely organise anything effectively, as the Digimon would be more interested in killing each other, than trying to work towards a common goal. He sighed. _However, you sometimes came across a few individuals who were very knowledgeable, as well as intelligent in their interactions and dealings. _Some could even be said to be reasonable.

The Digimon who are currently acting as my personnel army would usually have already killed each other by now, but I have them working in perfect unison. _How you ask?_ _They want what only I possess!_ _Or I should say, will possess, very shortly!_

Even if I cannot yet give them what they want, I provide them with methods of avoiding the Sovereigns and their servants. I can deactivate these 'methods at will,' or in the event of my 'deletion,' they will shut down automatically.

Occasionally I allow them to kill a Digimon who has wandered too close to our camps. I insist on my ten percent of the data they acquire, my 'fee' for services rendered. Digimon can set a limit on how much data they can absorb; this was how pack hunters insured their 'fair share'. _Plah! I would take it all if I could, but I have bigger plans!_

Before I began this enterprise, I had been but a shadow of my former self, forced to flee every fight I have encountered due to the damage to my data, it should have been repaired ages ago. Some injuries heal by themselves after all, but no!

_The data, my data, is flawed! _He said to himself, as he moved after the cage that held his prize. He used to be quite bitter about things, but not anymore! He was actually more satisfied with his current life, after considerable hardship.

_Forced to become this 'shadow' of my former self._ His face changed, and a small half frown appeared. _I have retired from fighting and used the only skill that remained to me, my brain! _A smile replaced the frown as the thought crossed his mind.

He thought about the previous plan. _At first I atempted to capture peace loving fools from the villiages in the desert, to kill them and absorb their data in the hopes of repairing my own. It was futile. On those occations where I could pick up the scraps of data from another mon's victory, I soon discovered that even that had no effect on my 'disfigurement'._ Thinking back helped to remind him of his goal.

_I began looking for a way to end my existence, attempting to draw other Digimon into battle, but the rumours had already found their way to other rule breakers like myself. Digimon who would have welcomed a willing victim to add to their victories shunned me, they said my data was corrupted, damaged and that only a suicidal fool would absorb me. No Digimon would be willing to take the risk of becoming afflicted. _

_I was an infection to be avoided!_

_Later, I realised that I had achieved some form of notoriety, while it was true that many Digimon shunned and mocked me, it was also true that they were afraid to attack or even get close to me, as they feared that they too would be infected._

_I became fascinated by the idea that I could be hated and feared but also needed. It would be ironic and have an element of 'just deserts' about it. I would make it so that the Digimon had to come to me to get what they wanted, and pay a price for my services, a nice high one._

_I make them serve me. _And when one of my servants kills their prey, I receive 'my share'. _Even though I cannot fight; I still long for evolution! Is that not my right?_

My servants slowly haul the remaining cages onto carts, to be dragged along on rails built for Locomon's and their evolutions. Locomon was the result of the Sovereign's attempts to industrialise and civilise the digital world, but locomon's proved to be rather unresponsive to orders, and rather dimwitted. _Fool's, they had no idea what they had created!_

He stood for a moment, taking one last look at the captive; he felt something like a warning ripple through him.

He turned around and noticed the signs. A fearsome wind was beginning to stir up sand to the north of them. He knew that the winds were capable of lifting Mammothmon and slamming them into rocks and even the ground itself with such force that it burst their data to bits.

"Hurry it up, I want to be out of here before that storm reaches us!" He shouted down at two Bakemon and a Kabuterimon, who were securing the cages and tethering a couple of Mekanorimon, since they would provide the 'brawn' that would move the carts along.

The desert region could be considered the most inhospitable layer of the digital world.

But if you want to hide where no one can find you, it was the best place to be!

Slowly the train began to move, he jumped aboard; the majority of those who served him were forced to ride in the carts that were unoccupied by the cells he used to transport all of his captured prizes, but he himself got inside a carriage at the very front of the train.

Soon the train picked up enough speed to move under its own momentum, allowing the Mekanorimon to rest for a while. He enjoyed travelling this way; it allowed him to think of all the possibilities he could uncover, especially now with his new lab Kumbhiramon.

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The present

Eventually, the tamers decided that they had done as much planning as could be done that evening, and Henry and Takato got up to leave.

Rika's grandma entered the room. "Are you going so soon, boys?"

"As much as I'd rather stay here, I'm afraid that I have to be getting home, my mom probably thinks I've got lost or something!" Henry said bowing.

"Unfortunately, I've got to agree with Henry, and thanks for the tea, it was wonderful!" Takato said following Henry's lead.

"You two don't have to be so formal, we've known you a long time, and your welcome if ever you need to talk!" She replied, reminding them of the time that she, along with Rika's Mother, Rumiko, had made a meal for them and their partner digimon.

"Thank you for your hospitality, and I'll remember what you said." Henry smiled.

"Until next time." He walked towards the door.

"Hey, Henry. Wait for me!" Takato said, also making a beeline for the door that lead into the garden and off the premises. Mrs Hata however insisted that she walk them to the door like a good hostess.

The air must have freed up while they had been inside Rika's house. The rain had stopped, though it was probably just a temporary lull in the storm, the wind was still quite strong.

Takato and Henry had decided to take a slow walk back to their own homes; Henry was in no hurry to get home so he had asked if he could leave his bike at Rika's house for a while. Her grandma had been more understanding than he thought she would have been, and had not asked why he chose to do so, or when he would be back to pick it up.

Takato could sense that Henry was feeling uncomfortable about something, he was hiding it well, but he was in a definite state of unease.

Takato admitted that he wasn't very good at reading people, although he could read Jeri pretty well, but he had known her for a long time. He had known her a lot longer than he had known Henry, anyway. _What was going on with him? As Henry's friend he should try to help, _he thought, trying to motivate himself.

"Are you ok Henry? You've been really quite since you mentioned telling our parents about what we planned to do?" Takato looked at him sideways as they walked.

"Takato, the thing is that my father and I haven't been the same since Terriermon left. Things didn't exactly work out the way either of us wanted. I just have my own reasons for not forgiving him yet."

"I'm Sorry, Henry," Takato said with sadness in his voice, he really did feel for him.

"It's ok Takato, its not that big a deal," Henry said, trying to appear happy out of a deep-rooted need to refuse to let anyone feel sorry for him. It wasn't as though he didn't appreciate Takato's concern, but it was a matter of privacy. The fact was, that over the last two years, he had carefully separated his life in two.

He hadn't shared it with anyone else, until now. Henry had suddenly comprehended that he had been doing it, when he had had the conversation with Rika. He started to understand that he and Rika had both set out to do it without thinking about it. They had been aware of what they were doing, sure, but not the actual consequences of it.

Henry felt happiest when he was away from home, at school, or hanging out with his friends. He could return to some semblance of his old self, but at home, in the presence of his father, he felt himself becoming colder and harder. When they would be working together on projects with the rest of the monster makers, he could shed his anger and his feelings of betrayal. His unease that things were not as they should be.

He could treat his fathered like a co-worker and a friend, but then they would return home and things would go back to the way they were before. Henry didn't want to show forgiveness, he wouldn't forgive him and he couldn't forgive him. _Please give me time, dad._

Takato still looked a little down. Henry guessed he must have a slightly ugly look on his face right now.

"I was just thinking, Takato, no need to call the fire department, as I'm not really in the mood to spit flames." At hearing the word's Takato laughed.

Henry had made the conscious decision that he would not allow his personnel problems to overwhelm his basic nature. _If I keep going like this I might end up turning into Rika! _Suddenly everything was funnier that it should have been, and he gave out a small giggle.

"Look, see Takato, nothing's wrong with me, I just miss Terriermon. I hope that we don't run into any problems getting them back, that's all."

Takato couldn't help but feel the same. He had to admit that he had been thinking the same thing. Not that they were expecting truly dangerous but they didn't know what dangers they might encounter in a Digital World that had been ravaged by the D-reaper.

Takato hadn't really thought about the state that the Digital World had been in the last time he had seen it, mainly because of the amount of time he had spent around Jeri. He had helped her as much as he could and amazingly enough, so had Rika.

Henry must have been reading his mind because he asked. "How is Jeri doing?"

The Tamers each had their own problems, and for a while it looked as though Jeri would have been the hardest of them to help. Takato realised that he didn't know as much about Jeri as he should have. She had come from a family that had been torn apart, but she never showed it. Her wounds were deep and had never been allowed to heal; they had been plugged up with a smiling face and a joyous attitude.

"She's getting better actually, it was hard to get her to talk at first. Oddly enough, it was Rika who managed to get her to talk about what'd happened to her. Once Rika got involved, all I had to do was be there when Jeri needed someone to talk to."

"So you think that you've finally got her on the mend?" Henry asked enthusiastically.

Takato's eyes suddenly turned dark and morbid, it was a look that was dangerous. Henry had only seen his eyes turn like that a few times, and a lot of those times involved Jeri's well being.

"Sometimes, I know she still has bad memories of what that 'thing' did to her, messing with her mind and emotions. As much as I keep trying to get her to forget, she says that she won't let herself forget."

"Maybe she's trying to deal with her problems one at a time, Takato. Something was wrong with Jeri long before the D-reaper touched her. I think that she wants to make sure that she can never be manipulated like that again."

"I guess so," Takato looked as though he was profoundly disturbed by this way of thinking. It obviously saddened him that Jeri had had to put up with such a number of traumas, happening seemingly one after another.

"Jeri has her other demons to work through as well." Henry added.

Takato had frozen, as though he had retreated within himself, while thinking about what Henry was saying. Takato only just realised that the most painful fact, was that the Jeri he had known before becoming a tamer, had been a lie.

"Look Takato, I know it's hard for you to understand, but sometimes you have to remember the bad things so they never happen again. You remember how we lost Leomon, and you know that you never want to see anything like that happen again. And you'll try hard to ensure that it doesn't."

Takato looked at Henry, but from the emptiness that Henry could see in his eyes, it was as though he was absorbed in the words that were being spoken to him. Lost in them.

"I know it hurts, but things happened, and we all played our part. But it's not about how we got where we are, or about the bad things that have happened, but how we face life afterwards." Henry said.

The words Henry had spoken had been ones that Henry's own sensei had spoken to him years earlier. He hadn't thought about those words much since then, and yet right now they continued to spring from his lips as though he had heard them only yesterday.

"I know that you don't understand, but maybe Jeri chose the wrong way to deal with her pain. She chose the safest way, the easiest way. This time maybe she is choosing the right path. Give her time Takato; she'll heal eventually. We just need to give her time."

"Your right, Henry," Takato seem to snap back to reality, "I never thought about it that way before." Takato said, after a moment, he looked a little less white than he had been before.

"I am your friend Takato, if you ever need any help, I am here." Henry patted him on the back, a little half-heartedly.

They walked on in silence for a while. Henry allowed the words he had just spoken to reverberate inside his mind, as they had originally been spoken to him. His Sensei had been describing how people react when terrible events happen to themselves or those around them, and how people forget that more often than not, life continues beyond those events.

_Why did these thoughts come to him now? Was he trying to tell himself something? _

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**In the distant past.**

During the First age, only the Sovereigns and clones created from their data lived in the Digital World along with the Digignomes. They had been the Sovereigns first attempt at populating the digital world, and were considered the first step in the Digimon's quest to understand themselves and create more of their kind.

They were however, creations that left the sovereigns dangerously vulnerable.

The D-reaper, the Enemy of the Digimon, found it could not destroy the Sovereigns themselves. The clones however, which had no drive or creativity of their own, and had acquired flaws in their data due to the complexity of the cloning process, were easily absorbed.

Once the Enemy had absorbed and studied one copy, it applied the knowledge to the other copies and the Sovereigns themselves. The Sovereigns were saved by their more complex design and continued to battle their Enemy. At the time, they did not know it had a name.

The Enemy could not be defeated even by their combined strength. The Sovereigns had learned that advanced evolution was a sufficient method of both defending against, and attacking the D-reaper. Thus the Sovereigns crafted the plan they hoped would be effective at destroying the Enemy and saving their world.

They used all their knowledge and intelligence to create a life form capable of reaching a higher level of evolution in a very short time. Into it they placed fragments of their own codes, learning by their mistakes in their cloning process, they gave it a rudimentary intelligence matrix. In essence, an independent will. They gave it huge amounts of their knowledge and then released it.

The Sovereign stood aside as the life form began to evolve and fight.

Quicker than they imagined, it began a terrific battle against the Enemy, it evolved through the stages of evolution in less time than it had taken the other Sovereigns to evolve half that far. Using the data that surrounded it, the new Digimon formed around its code with a physical construct that represented all the Sovereigns powers combined. Even attacking the Enemy with a ferocity that the Sovereigns had not known possible, swallowing whole or eliminating any data-destroying blob that came near it, but it still had not done enough damage.

The Digimon soon became trapped, being swallowed whole itself, until its data was slowly beginning to become fractured and damaged. It screamed its defiance to the elements. It was then that it Digi-volved, the first ever Digi-evolution to occur.

It was then that the Sovereigns realised why none of their clones had been successful against the Enemy, beings that had already reached the highest point were not motivated to reach beyond themselves and could not even if they wished, as they were not unique, their power was not their own. This was their flaw.

The Digimon they had created were unique and believed in their own abilities; they had their knowledge but were not part of them. They had created a new power, the evolutionary light, and the power of Digi-evolution!

When the light that engulfed the whole area vanished, a new form was revealed. This form was given a name. A Mega Digimon.

A Hugh Dragon had appeared where their creation had once been. The Enemy withdrew to prepare its final attack.

The Digimon that had been now hovered before them, covered in Golden scales from head to foot, its six eyes shone with understanding and held no fear of the red mass collecting below it. This creature was not afraid of death.

The present

Azulongmon remembered well, that the Fifth of the great Mega Digimon, who protected the Digital World, could only be called fourth during times of great need.

It was no longer the mighty Mega it had once been, but remained only because of the need for advice in times of great peril, and even then, only when the Sovereigns could not reach a decision through the voting system that had been set in place all those eras ago.

Azulongmon prepared himself for the meeting. Their leader, who preferred not to have the title, saw itself only as a guardian of the Sovereigns self respect. It would have to be informed of the situation by the parties involved, and given all relevant information. Only then could it reach a decision.

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The room was dark, with a number a number of candles spread about it. This place used to be pretty and very cheerful until a year or so ago, not that it wasn't either of those things anymore, but it had taken on a more serious feel.

The candles were arranged around a small shrine, which sat in one corner of the room, farthest away from the door. The only sounds in the room were that of a human's breathing and the gentle slapping of plastic onto the wooden surface of a table.

The table was made of dark mahogany that absorbed any light that touched it, allowing reflective objects to shine like beacons when placed upon its surface.

The objects that were on it now were Digimon cards arranged by type and power. They did indeed reflect the light, giving off a ghostly glow. A girl, with light brown hair and matching eyes, sat in front of the table.

Slowly she reached down to the pile of cards that represented her collection, and took another card off the top, she looked at it before placing it with the other 'Metal Empire' cards.

The deck spread before her did not represent her whole collection, which had once been complete in her eyes, representing a link to the one thing that had made her happy. Of course the collection was not complete, it was already highly unlikely that a player would possess all the cards, but the fact hers was not complete in the way it used to be, was very prevalent to her.

Two cards would be forever separated from her pack. One card was that of Leomon, placed on a small pedestal in a shrine she had built herself, facing outward like a portrait of an old friend. The other was that of LadyDevimon, which lay flat beneath it, face up. The Ladydevimon card had been the only one she had ever used to Digi-modify him, the one she had used to give him the power to destroy Orochimon.

The shrine also contained a few other items that represented the things that were and had happened in her life.

Her Digi-vice had been found, after the battle against D-reaper, undamaged outside of the Hypnos building. It was placed to the back, facing up, providing some light with its static ridden screen still flickering, even after all this time. It was telling her that he was gone and never coming back, but it was telling her also that it had not all been a dream or even a nightmare, but that it had been real.

"_As if I really need someone to tell me that it was?"_ She said, half-sarcastically. She was finally coming to terms with what had happened.

In the shrine, she also kept a picture of her real mother; standing to the right of Leomon's card, and on the left was a picture of the other tamers. If someone were to come in and see this, they would properly think she needed a psychiatrist, because there appeared to be no pictures of her father or stepmother in the room.

She knew that no one could accuse her of needing them; she did actually have some pictures of her stepmother and her father in the top draw of the cabinet near her bed. She just needed time to get used to having her life turned up side down the way it had, and get used to the changes it had caused.

She still needed to deal with the other dozen selfish things she had done in her life. That realisation sobered her up a bit.

Truthfully, she had not liked it when her dad had married another woman, Jeri had felt resentment towards that woman immediately, and to make matters worse, he simply ignored the fact that the new woman in his life and his daughter didn't 'get along'.

Her resentment only increased, as she grew older and the woman became her stepmother. Her anger was aimed more at her father, than her stepmother, but it was only now that she thought about it, that her reasoning had become clear.

She had felt anger towards him, but he was all she had and she loved him, and thus she displaced her anger onto her stepmother. Her stepmother was actually innocent, and had not deserved Jeri's contempt.

After a while though, it became clear to her father that something was wrong and his answer to it was a single word that would imprint itself upon her mind; _Destiny_.

A small voice rang inside her head, an echo of what had been. 'Destiny'; it called out from the darkest regions of her memory. The D-reaper had used that word against her; the word that had protected her and helped get over some of her anger, had betrayed her.

'Destiny' was the cause of all her problems, her father had explained to her when she was eight; it was fate and you could not fight against such things.

'Destiny' the voice said again little stronger than before. Jeri felt a shiver moving up her spine, her body began to shake; quickly she tried to refocus her mind on the task before her. A voice that sounded just like Rika's echoed inside her head restoring a bit of calm. 'Concentrate' it repeated several times.

After the Digimon had gone back to their own world, Rika had come to see her and they had talked. Ever since the D-reaper had possessed her mind, she would sometimes hear a recreation of its twisted voice coming from deep within her; whenever that happened, her mind would go blank, her body would tremble and she would lose all control of herself.

Once Jeri had been at Rika's house, at the time they had been talking about what Jeri was going to do with her Digi-vice, right then the voice began to whisper to her and she began to feel the beginnings of a 'panic attack'; that is what her stepmother had called it the first time Jeri had suffered one.

Jeri knew that she had over-reacted to Leomon's death, allowing herself to become overly emotional, if someone had been watching her, they probably would have asked her to knock off her emotional child routine. She realised how stupid she had been, _so why did these attacks continue to happen?_

Jeri had suffered several over the last few weeks, but nothing seemed to help.

Rika however, knew exactly what to do; she had pulled Jeri into a sitting position and grabbed her own card pack, which was still n her pocket. She quickly placed the whole deck face down on the table and jumbling them up before putting them into a neat pile.

She told Jeri to imagine that this was her deck, and to pick one up. Jeri quickly obeyed picking the first card from the top of the pile, it was the Devimon card.

"Right, I want you to tell me its type, attribute, family and power." She said in a voice that was quite harsh to Jeri's ears. Jeri didn't know what Rika was doing and it came out in her reply.

"Rika, I don't understand, I don't…" She stammered trying to get her mind and body to respond properly.

"Just close your eyes, take a deep breath and I do as I say." Jeri did just that, trying her best to concentrate on what Rika had told her to do, but she was beginning to feel the dizziness that always followed when she was having an attack.

She had just started to feel that she was losing control when she felt Rika's hands on her shoulders, her fingers working slowly on the muscles there. Jeri started to feel her body start to relax by itself, without her needing to try and force it, as she usually had too.

Her heartbeat, which would normally be sky high by now, it was actually beginning to beat normally again, even though it was still nowhere near normal. She was too busy focusing on what Rika was doing to lose herself completely, even though it still felt frighteningly close to blacking out.

"Focus on type, attribute and family, take a breath between each." Jeri scrambled around inside her mind; searching for what the information she knew about, it was in there somewhere.

"Hurry up," Rika hissed.

"Devimon; Type: Virus, Attribute: Fallen angel, Family: Nightmare soldier and dark area." Jeri spat out quickly only catching her breath once she was finished.

"Good," Rika said, her voice a little less harsh than it was before, "now what would you class it as?"

"What?" Jeri asked her voice just above a whisper.

"Do you think it would be useful to you?" Rika asked with hint of slyness to it.

"Why?" Jeri asked again trying not to be rude to her friend, or at least someone she would consider a friend.

"Just answer me," Rika said, the slight annoyance creeping into her manner, her hands had slowed to a pace that meant she could not tell if Rika was still doing it. Had she stopped? Had she angered Rika?

"No, its power isn't that good or very complementary to what I have in the rest of my deck." Jeri said softly, thinking she had offended Rika.

"Ok, put it here," she pointed to one side of the desk. Jeri put it where Rika indicated, "next card."

Rika had made Jeri keep this up for almost an hour when she stopped her half way through, Mamemon; Jeri was actually beginning to enjoy it.

"Are you alright now, was it as bad as it usually is?" Rika asked her, her voice was actually quite beautiful when she wasn't saying some of the cruel things she would sometimes direct at others.

"What do you mean? I…oh, yeah." Jeri sighed. She'd almost forgotten the why they had been sat, doing this, "you must think I'm being a fool, allowing that to hurt me?" She said, her voice becoming heavy with remembered pain.

"It helped though, didn't it?" Rika asked. "And why didn't you say anything?"

"Yes, it helped," Jeri replied, "I kept it to myself because I've already tried everything I could find, and nothing seemed to help."

"Jeri, if you need help, all you have to do is ask." Rika smiled. "Now, what is it exactly, and how long has it been going on?"

Jeri felt embarrassed and yet she wanted more than anything to tell someone what was really bothering her, affecting her in that way.

"Ever since the D-reaper used me like it did, sometimes, something will just set me off. Sometimes it's a smell, or a thought, or a feeling like I'm being watched, and it'll all come flooding back. I can't move, speak or think. It scares me."

"I think I know what you're going through," was all Rika would say. "Do you know what it is?" Jeri shook her head; she didn't know what to think.

"I think you were suffering from a something called a panic attack," Rika said, giving Jeri her full attention. "You've been through some bad things and they are haunting you. They are making you re-experience them."

"That's what my stepmother thought." Jeri said, slightly surprised.

"I knew it!" Rika smiled. "Would you like to learn how I helped you?"

Rika explained that she had put Jeri into a trance, using her hands to calm Jeri's bodily reactions, explaining that a relaxed body helps the mind to focus itself. Rika won't elaborate on where she had learned meditation trances or how to work her fingers like that, and Jeri didn't want to intrude.

Sorting her cards, Rika said, was originally a way that she kept herself prepared for card competitions. However Rika found that by focusing on the cards she could focus her mind, mostly away, from her problems and later she found that she could even face some of them, I just picked up the rest from here and there. Jeri could tell Rika was not telling the whole story.

Rika suggested that Jeri give it a try, to use the same technique again next time she felt an attack coming. Rika said that eventually it would become second nature to her, and that Jeri should be able to sort them at will. Rika told her that she might find it beneficial to use it if she wanted to get through stressful situations, or work through her issues on her own.

She also suggested that she learn or try several different strategies to sort them by and try those every now and again, as to prevent it from becoming too automatic or repetitive. If it became either of those things it would reduce its effectiveness and usefulness. Trying to order them by type or usefulness meant a different why of having to think each time.

Jeri now kept her cards with her and used them whenever and wherever she needed to, even at school. It was only later that Jeri realised how much alike they both were. Although Rika had never fully explained how she had come across this way of relaxing. Jeri thought it must have been something pretty painful for Rika to retreat in the world of the Digimon card game, so far in fact, that the Digi-gnomes had granted her wish to become a Digimon tamer.

The sorting of the cards had worked for her, like it always did, since Rika had showed her how. It had allowed her to overcome a lot of things over the past two years and she would continue to use it as long as she needed it. Presently she got back to what she had been doing.

Jeri, having cleared her mind, she returned to her contemplation of what the word destiny had meant to her. It had been a comfort to her that she was not to blame for what had happened in her life, and it was satisfying to have something to curse, shout and scream at when the terrible things occurred.

Her father hoped that if she believed in destiny enough that she would accept life he had chosen for her.

She had believed in it for along while, but Takato and his friends had shown her that you could make your own choices within the boundaries that fate and destiny had provided for you. She felt better just by knowing that.

But that belief that you couldn't fight destiny remained inside of her and it had been waiting for her to fall into it and slam shut on her. When Leomon had been killed, she felt depressed, and ashamed, that she had not prepared herself for the possibility that something could go wrong in the digital world.

The word had been there with all that it implied, right there, just as she remembered it. It was cruel and unsympathetic.

Jeri had worked her way through it, with Rika's help. She believed she had conquered the way that word had always made her feel.

She had realised that Leomon had been right, that we each have our own destiny, as well as a hand in the shaping of that destiny. That she had some control over it. What she did with that control was her choice.

She had won, although she still had nightmares and her panic attacks, but it felt as though she could live as she wanted, making her own decisions. She had even managed to turn over a new leaf with her step mom.

Jeri decided that she had done enough thinking for one night; she could smell dinner wafting up through the houses' series of air ducting and she was feeling hungry.

She had thanked Rika a number of times for teaching her the meditation trick, but it never seemed enough to say that, she wanted to return the favour. Jeri hoped she might get a chance to do that.

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To Be Continued…

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Ok Chapter 2 is up. Just as I promised. Might take two or three weeks for me to iron out chapter 3. So look forwards to it.

Note: one of my reviews by Crazyeight, mentioned possible Henry OOC and about deleted footage. First of all, I think that all characters have something that can cause them to show the worst sides of themselves, just view it as that. Secondly, I could talk about the footage. Personally I didn't know anything of it (the deleted scenes, as my copy of tamers is what I recorded on VHS tapes. Might get the DVDs. But I am more of a Transformers fanatic.), but I have my own plans. If they make up, they'll make up. If they don't, they won't. Simple ficficton rule. : - )

Note 2: For future chapters I will try to write more clearly in regards to 'changes in perspectives'. That should help you understand what's happening a little more clearly. Starting with this chapter 2.

Note 3: Last one, I promise; I guess I did not make it clear. I have rewritten the previous chapter as it had too many mistakes, so give it a read, its better trust me. (p.s. I always wondered how she was before her 'chip on her shoulder' appeared – a lot of girls like making pretty things).

If I say anymore I might spoil things.

Spoiler: Chapter 3: Troubles, pains and disappearances. : - )


	3. Chapter 3

Waiting for eternity, and not a moment longer

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**Chapter 3 – Troubles, pains and disappearances.**

Rika was not having a good day; she had had a lousy night, and to top it all off, she was late for school again. She sat down and began eating the breakfast her grandma had prepared for her.

Quite recently Rika's life had become a repetition of this morning, although today she felt as though she had a little more energy than usual because of the things that Takato and Henry had said last night.

She had agreed with Henry and Takato. She knew that if they told their parents, Yamaki, and everyone else, would try to stop them. If they said nothing, they would probably never hear from their family again. They probably would never forgive them.

She hoped that by leaving at least a message, they wouldn't get so upset. This time their parents would know exactly where they had gone.

Things have become so complicated, she added to herself, and sighed.

The lousy night she had experienced was caused by a bad dream. In that dream she revisited the first time she had meet Renamon, and Renamon had flatly told Rika that she was unworthy to become her tamer and heartily suggested she 'tame' a Numemon instead, as that was more appropriate.

When Rika had asked why, Renamon responded by pulling out a piece of paper. The paper seemed to have a long, bullet pointed list printed on it. It was a list of Rika's faults!

Rika had woken up right then, dripping in a cold sweat, and found herself unable to get back to sleep.

Rika had had this dream before, unfortunately, and she guessed she had had it in response to her talk with Henry yesterday. Rika had been exploring her own past a lot lately, because of how she was doing, mentally and physically.

She didn't notice any great change in the way she was, until she looked at herself in a mirror at school. It was only then, of course, that she realised how bad she actually looked.

She looked more like a ghost than a twelve-year-old girl, and she was sure she had lost some weight. Looking back, she realised that these changes in her had been happening ever since they had sent those messages to the digital world.

There were other reasons of course. She hadn't been eating well and the fact that she had entered puberty did not help matters. Her moods had definitely become worse, though her grandmother put it down to premenstrual tension; Rika discovered, to her own amazement, that she herself was blaming it on that as well. It hurt her that she was even trying to fool herself into believing the pain would go away.

She knew it was the real reason why she was feeling so bad. The 'message' she had sent, along with those of the other tamers to the digital world, played in her mind. She could remember the letter almost word for word.

"Renamon... you're horrible." The writing crossed her lids in black and white. 

"I know it's not your fault. But you really... you really are horrible. You suddenly turned smaller and went back home... and you said convenient things like, "We'll see each other again."

She had started the letter so horribly, but there was so little time left before they had to be transmitted that she had no time to change it.

Rika knew, deep in her heart that she had only said her true feelings. Once she had gotten 'that' out of her system, and because she thought she would never see or hear from Renamon again, she had written something she could have put a better way if only she had had the time to think about it.

Rika truly loved Renamon, the one who told; no made her realise, that she wasn't alone.

The terrible injustice of it all, was that Rika felt that her 'current' self would never, ever be able to tell Renamon that. If she were face to face with Renamon her 'current' self would only be capable of insult and argument.

_I'm just not strong enough to be otherwise_, Rika thought bitterly.

That was why Rika had decided, weeks ago, that things had to change, for both of their sakes.

Rika shook herself and decided that if Renamon hadn't received her message, she would at least do her best to tell Renamon exactly how she truly felt, face to face. Rika tried looking at herself objectively, she had tried a number of times since she had resolved to do it.

Rika had dedicated her to becoming a master of silence from when she was very young, well at least when her parents first began to have disagreements. She didn't really understand what was going on anyway, just that they always seemed to be arguing about her.

She later learned to say as little as possible, and to hide what she was thinking and feeling. Thinking back on it now, Rika suspected that she had subconsciously attempted to fix herself, and thus give her parents fewer reasons to argue.

The arguments did not get better of course.

As a young girl Rika had learned, although she could not pinpoint exactly when, to add a type of sarcasm to her way of speaking that could cut through others like a knife through butter. The sarcastic whip she used was her way of lashing out; sometimes she used it when people interfered with something she was doing or when she was nervous or irritated. But mostly, it was to keep a distance from anyone who she spoke to.

This trait had helped her through her parents divorce, and it continued to be a big part of the way she was. She had not even considered who to use it against and whom she should not.

_It did not make me popular that's for sure_, she thought. Not that she had ever wanted friends, especially the sorts who were overly friendly with their mothers. It wasn't that she envied them, on the contrary, she felt sickened by them.

They always wanted to talk about what their mother's did for them!

Rika often avoided talking about her mother. What she hated most of all, was the insistence that every little girl wanted to be like 'mommy'. Quite suddenly, Rika was back in her past.

"How many of you would like to be like you mom's when you grow up?" The teacher asked with that stupid smirk plastered across her pretty doll-like features.

Rika remembered her response, as if she had spoken yesterday, "Was you mother a bad teacher too?" Rika's voice had been dripping in venom; she could taste it even now, as though fresh on her lips.

_I was angry_, Rika realised.

She had known too little and too much at the same time and that had made her angry. Rika could not explain it better than that. I had felt like I had been insulted.

_Why would I want to be like mom, when mom wasn't paying any attention to me, and always fighting with dad?_ Rika remembered asking herself, even then realising her mother's mind was elsewhere.

That anger had only gotten worse over time, she knew where it came from now, but back then she had already decided that she had had enough of being her mother's daughter.

If a counsellor had gotten a hold of her now, then they would probably lay all the blame on her mother, but that wasn't quite right either. Rika blamed everyone and everything around her, but she knew that it really came from within herself. Her anger had been aimed at herself for all those years.

She really had accused herself, subconsciously, of being the cause of the destruction of her parents' marriage, even while consciously blaming her mother. Rika cursed herself for not being able to understand what was happening and therefore not being able to stop her parents from fighting.

Later, Rika buried her pain and resorted to jabbing people with her needle. It became the outlet for her pain.

Once her grandma began living with them, Rika's anger cooled a little. How many times had grandma helped Rika by acting as a buffer between her daughter and her granddaughter?

Even with her grandmother's help, Rika had drifted further away from her family and concern for others, and deeper into the game of the Digimon. The cards were the only things that mattered to her. Even then, things still existed that required her sarcasm as sword and shield, defending against anyone who intruded on the small bubble she had created for herself.

The childish ways of other tamers, and the adults around her, slowly convinced Rika that she was probably the only person in the entire world capable of feeling anything. Rika then, with this view in her mind, become cold to others and only concentrated on what made her happy, gaining the knowledge to beat anyone with the cards that she possessed.

It did not even occur to her she was being foolish, and the world became dislocated to her, separated into those who were part of the game and those who were not. Never allowing herself to feel anything of what a child should, Rika embarked on her journey, friendless and unemotional.

She spent her entire childhood walking around with a perpetual scowl strung across her features. That was who she had become.

_I become virtually empty and was never truly satisfied with anything, _Rika found herself thinking_. I walked through the crowd as though I was the only person in the world. I was alone._

_I wasn't alone; when Renamon came to me I wasn't alone, I just thought I was._

This was the point she always reached when it became too much for her, and she could not continue any further.

Sometimes this stuff would just pop into her brain for no reason at all, or when she was particularly stressed, and sometimes even during conversation. No one used to notice when her mind went on a walk about.

Rika admitted that she used to be able to make it appear to everyone as though she were, at the very least, paying attention, but over the past year it was gradually becoming harder for her to do this.

She could do it, if it what she was thinking about wasn't really thoughtfully or emotionally provoking, but if it was something big it became a real struggle.

It was mainly because she was getting so little sleep; it also might be because she was finally allowing her feelings to openly play on her face at last.

She would just end up sat or stood silent, just staring into space, while her mind rattled around inside her head.

Is all this worry getting too much for me? She practically admitted to herself that it was.

The one release that had been open to her was not an option, as it no longer worked as it once had, because of her feelings for Renamon. She was soul searching for Renamon's sake, yet the card therapy was killing her.

She had given up her cards, which were now locked away in her chest of draws. She knew the other tamers would understand, but she felt uncomfortable talking to them about this kind of stuff.

Rika realised her problem, was that she didn't know what to do.

"Rika, you'll be late for school if you get lost in thought like that." She heard her grandmother shout through from the kitchen. She cursed herself again for letting her mind wonder.

"I'll be down in a second." Rika replied, secretly thanking her grandma for interrupting and getting her mind to work once again.

She had heard a quote somewhere that summed her feelings up. Rika mumbled it too herself as she got on her bike to leave for school: _'trapped between fire and flood' and_ _if there is a way out, I sure don't see it_. It was the story of her life.

_I want to talk to Renamon so much_, she admitted. _But do I have the courage?_

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Henry was rather disturbed. He had observed his own behaviour at home last night and it had left him shaken. He had talked to Rika about it in the hope that she would know of a way to dampen out the pain he was feeling toward his own father.

_It's not really my feelings towards him that I am having problems with, _he thought. Henry just wanted to find a way to survive until he found his answer.

Rika had told him what he should do, and he had listened, but at home he realised that he had already done much of what Rika had already suggested. He realised just how strong Rika must have been to keep it up all those years and not go insane. When he thought this, he burst out laughing at the dinner table.

His family looked at him as though he had gone mad, but it was so funny that he couldn't stop himself.

_Getting obsessed with the card game, recruiting a Digimon, fighting with opponents all night and then saving the world from an apocalyptic scenario was hardly sane!_ He thought all at once.

When the other thing Rika had said popped into his mind, it brought him back to earth with a bump. 'You have to decide if this is exactly what you want because it is very hard change what you've said and done. It may be that you'll never get back to who you were'. Those words had made him feel as though a pitcher of water had been dropped onto his head.

He found himself replaying that conversation a number of times: as he lay in bed, last night, this morning, as he got dressed for school. It consumed his attention even now, as he sat at his desk waiting for lessons to start.

He heard something he hadn't heard the first time she had said it. There was an undertone of remorse, and a pleading for things to go back to the way they were before she began her metamorphosis. _Rika did have some regrets then._

He also heard the steel in her voice as well; it was a part of who she was now and she couldn't and wouldn't take it back.

He realised what she had been saying, it was like a recording within a recording. On one level she was telling him that she wanted someone to help her and on the other she was telling him not to interfere. She had burned a fair number of her bridges in becoming whom she was and was now trapped on unfriendly shores.

He knew she was in pain deep down, but her code of honour, both as a human and a tamer would not allow her to admit or permit others to treat her wounds. Even if he asked, she would only deny it.

Rika was telling him, as truthfully and as much as she could, that you had to be prepared and except both the boon and bane, of cutting yourself off from those around you. Even from those who could help you most.

Henry realised that it would properly be best for him to see what Rika would do rather that commit himself fully to what she had proposed. If Rika had been part of a larger family she would have had a lot more people to turn to, and it would not have been so bad for her.

Henry had his brother and sister, and his mum to turn to if he needed help, even if things continued the way they were with his father, he would always have them. He realised he was quite lucky.

Rika, however, had fewer choices. Of the three main people in her life who could have helped her; her mum was the person she had distanced herself from. The other was wise, as wise as anyone could be, but properly couldn't offer much help being of an age that made their worlds seem far apart, differences of experience, where the world of technology and youth drove a wedge between them. After all who would think that someone who didn't live with what they experienced now, would possibly understand. People often forgot that wise often meant being young and having had them feelings at one time or another. The final one wasn't even human. Renamon, trapped in the Digital World where she could of no help to her.

Henry had not realised how much of a crutch Renamon had been for Rika. The Digimon card game might have been a temporary reprieve from her problems and simply something for her focus on for a short time, but Renamon had brought something else to Rika's life that had saved her from going over the edge.

Henry knew that Rika hadn't looked herself last night, but he thought he was finally beginning to understand her a little better, and that understanding didn't settle his unease one bit. Henry hadn't given it much thought, as he had his own problems to face, but he suddenly knew why he had felt so uncomfortable since their talk. A single question had dominated his unconscious mind.

What would Rika do now that she was alone again, now that the person she relied on was gone? The answer he came up with, left him feeling colder than ever before.

There was something else that he had felt last night that had given him hope though. Rika had a look, which had briefly shown on her face as they left. She seemed edgy, yet somehow determined, perhaps she did not even recognise it. Rika had chosen a new path, and decided that if her wounds would not heal, then at least she could do was wash them and dress them.

Henry wondered if it was the right path, but it made resolute to choose his own path and stick to it.

Henry felt his own steel becoming razor sharp, he decided that no matter what, the decision he and the other tamers had made was the correct one. It was not just the correct one, but the right one. He wanted to bring them home, not just for himself but also for everyone who had lost a part of him or herself when the Digimon had been taken from them.

It would require a lot of planning and hard work, the digital world might have been changed beyond their recognition, and getting back would probably be the hardest thing. _No_, Henry said to himself; the aftermath of their decision would be the hardest thing they would face.

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He looked at the diary and then closed it. Picking up fresh piece, he started to write.

My name is Gorou Mizuno, I'm also known as Shibumi, and ten years ago I was called to join a group of programmers known as the Monster Makers.

I was happy to join in on the project they were working on; a project to design what we were promised would be the next great step in A.I. programming.

The 'step' designed to convert artificial intelligence into actual intelligence. It was a bold idea and the organisations that had assembled, as well as provided the funding for the venture, seemed very much interested in the theories concerning the evolutionary progression of taking programs from interactive to proactive thinking.

So what was the group's goal?

It was quite simple; the creation of A.I. that could not only interact with their surroundings and give responses, but also shape their surroundings and show actual decision making properties.

But like all great ideas, you seem to just be cracking the surface of what is possible when things go to the dogs. The next thing I heard was that the entire program was out of funding and as far as the others involved were concerned, the project was over.

I could tell it was hard for them, but they gave up too soon. I personally couldn't blame them, many of them had families to support, and many of them didn't have the extra time to deal with the kind of stuff I was into.

The Digimon were the first real project that I actually wanted to be a part of. I had earned a lot of money in the past for programming pretty complex stuff, and I had no family and not much of anything else, so I kept working on the project.

I think that it was the day after the project was cancelled that it all started, I felt that the Digimon were no longer our pets, they were living beings and had the right to make their own decisions. I know it sounds crazy. Hell, the other programmers thought I was crazy, but we must all do what we think is right. I did what I thought was right.

I didn't realise or even consider the possibility that something bad would happen as a result of my decision, but I did what I could to save them. As far as I was concerned all data relating to them would be deleted, so not knowing that others had copies of the Digimon's core programming, I set a simple but effect plan in motion.

If, in the event that their fate would indeed be deletion, I set the computers that stored their information to data dump into a number of core servers spread throughout the Internet.

The original data on the monster maker servers would be irretrievable; the system they were created in would first run a delete cycle, and in doing so, move them to a recycle bin.

This action would trigger a process of copying the bin's contents, and transmitting it to a location of my choice. I must admit that I placed this program inside all of the Digimon we made, long before the project ran into trouble. Of course, at that time I only thought they could be added to my scrapbook. I never imagined us getting as far as we did with them.

I knew that if I were lucky, only minor damage would be caused by this untested code. Some damage would occur, that was understandable and unavoidable, given where our data was being kept. The 'location' I chose was a number of locked servers I had previously set up before I joined the project.

Once they were safe, and I had them, I hoped I could personally repair any damage done to the Digimon at a later date.

The system where we had worked on the Digimon would then perform a full purge. It would basically delete everything in any folders relating to the project and empty the recycle bin, which I hoped would erase the evidence of my activities.

Once in the new servers, the Digimon copies would only be retrievable by someone who knew the passwords to those servers: me. I hoped that one day the Monster Makers could be reunited to finish the job they had started.

The project ended and that was that. Or so I made out to my colleagues.

I knew that, at least they were hidden and safe, but I wanted to be able to send them somewhere were we could not interfere with them, where they could continue their evolution and not be trapped within the prisons I had put them in. It hurt me to do it, but it was the only way, or so I thought. I could not, for the life of me, think of a place that would allow that much freedom.

It seemed even I had underestimated them, or maybe the Digi Gnomes had granted my wish, who knows, because I don't.

I left them for a while, in case anyone realised what I had done, before opening those servers and seeing what damage had been done. When I did I was quite shocked. The servers were completely empty.

For a moment I believed the data had been lost, but it I quickly realised that, if that were the case something would have been transferred even if it came out all wrong or half missing. It had me really puzzled.

In the world outside my office, things had gone from bad to worse.

In a matter of a few months after the project had ended, a new children's toy entered the market. Digimon. I was furious, I tried the courts but it proved no use. They had changed the core code slightly, slightly enough to avoid prosecution and paying any of the Monster Makers for something they designed.

I bought a copy of their first Digimon computer game; I knew it was wrong, as I was adding to the coffers of those thieves. I copied and analysed the core programmes that they were made up of, and found out what they had done.

These Digimon were not the creatures we had created, well they were, and yet they weren't. The Digimon had been changed into thoughtless killers, true monsters, which were limited to the most basic decision making parameters. How best to kill this enemy or how best to kill that one, how do I become stronger against this one.

The creatures we had created were beautiful in the way they could decide when to fight and when to talk. These pitiful beings were denied even that choice.

The Digimon we had created would talk to each other, and could settle their differences without violence. The Digimon had a survival instinct and fighting abilities, but they were designed as weapons of last resort, as they should be.

These abominations could only carry out the will and impulses of the humans who played with them; the perverted human desire to destroy without reason, and I felt the injustice of it. The other thing I deciphered from these Digimon's codes is that they were not the original ones the Monster makers had created.

I realised something else though, these creatures had the same programming in their proactive and interactive sub-routines as the previous versions, the originals I had made with my friends. They were incapable of refusing a fight, but they could still learn.

I only hoped that some humans could help them learn that there is more than just fighting out there. Another puzzling thing was that the data dump program was still in effect at the core of these Digimon programs. If a Digimon were to be deleted, would it too be sent to my servers?

Over the next few months I continued to check my servers, deep within cyberspace, never finding anything there, except emptiness. This way of thinking, the way things were happening, led me to a bigger question.

Where had the originals disappeared too, and where were deleted Digimon being sent if not into my servers?

Shibumi stretched and looked at the three pages he had written. He felt better for writing it but still knew he would not be able to get a good night sleep.

He reached for the cup of coffee he had placed by his right side and took a long swig. It was luke-warm but would do. He turned to the sound he heard from the window and placed the cup down. He was getting jumpy lately. It was only a twig.

It was too late; he had done it again! The ring mark left by the cup would mean a rewrite. _I'll be dead by the time I finish my autobiography! _He thought grumpily.

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Sounds and images fluttered around her, the Digital world gone and yet there. The unending variety of things that have been, were and are, all changing one data bit at a time. She was always watching, but everything happened to her, in one big blur. With so much of the world flying you by, you become confronted with missing pieces.

Missing details, faces, signs, shapes, rhymes, all lost in the vast emptiness between moments. _The passing of a second or an eon is the same to me._

She had been asleep for ages, she laughed at her own thoughts. The digital world did not measure time in the same ways as those who lived in the 'Real world' did. Ages were a good approximate guess at the length of her slumber.

Which world is real? She considered. One was certainly far older than the other, one came first, but which is real? Only time will tell?

The time we use is ages, the first age, the second, and the third and so on, we are currently in the 16th age, also known as the oxmorrikain age. Oxmorrikain, was a word in Digimon, it means regeneration or rejuvenation. It was quite appropriate considering the Digital world was still recovering from the attack it suffered from their thrice-cursed enemy.

_The D-Reaper was it's name, very appropriate, _She thought.

I am a Sovereign, made up from the data of the other Sovereigns themselves. She was created to be their best weapon against their enemy. Weather or not she succeeded in the role was debatable.

She had battled and became heavily damaged and was partly absorbed when the battle had ended. Their enemy had retreated to the Digital world's lowest layer and vanished. Her data had been so damaged that she had to enter a state of sleep; her data couldn't even be repaired. We Digimon discovered that once you enter a certain level of existence, you become locked into that level.

_You can't put a genie back into the bottle, or water particles back into a cup exactly as it was, if the cup is shattered and the earth had swallowed up the water!_

The other Sovereigns used what techniques they had learned to freeze my data, allowing me to exist in a limbo like state, between life and death, consciousness and yet unconscious.

The others consider me to be greater than they are, as much as I refuse the appointment. I refused it because, without them I would not exist, and they are the originals and I prefer to exist only as a voice of reason. I have no form with which to help or guide them, I do not have the will, power or capacity to lead them.

I am an advisor and nothing more, and will only intercede when it becomes necessary or am invited to.

I once asked my creators why they consider me superior, when I could not defeat our enemy. They argued with me, telling me that I contained all their memories, talents and knowledge. I had managed to balance there conflicting issues, making peace within myself, a peace they could not achieve among themselves. The council required unity of thought and action; that was there strongest argument.

_They did not understand. I was their shadow, and yet I am myself also. It was all every confusing. _She had thought.

I contain all their strongest attributes without the baggage that comes with them, but their inability to get along did not give me the right to take control of what they had created.

I possess Azulongmon's wisdom without his tendency to underestimate or evaluation other people and predict their actions. I have Baihumon's strength without his rash responses. I have Ebonwumon's cautious approach to situations and none of his inability to act when it mattered most, as he often confuses himself. I possess Zhuqiaomon's analytical ability with none of the hatred that often clouds his judgement.

I have weaknesses like anyone else, without a form I cannot fight for my world and I cannot lead them anywhere. The Sovereigns could be as foolish as can anyone else; they tended not to see that they too, are part of a whole. If I took over, they would never learn this. _Perhaps one day!_

I prefer to remain behind the scenes, help and hindering as I see things on the horizon. Only interfering when I absolutely have too. As the return of our enemy loomed, I did not tell the other Sovereigns that he had disobeyed the decision of the council. Zhuqiaomon's actions were not my concern; the blindness of the other sovereigns was not my concern. Selfish perhaps, but they had to learn to watch each other carefully and closely.

Zhuqiaomon originally proposed that a search team should be sent to investigate possible solutions and escape routes in the real world should it come to that. The idea was appealing but was untimely rejected by the council, citing that things had not yet progressed that far and that any investigation might draw the wrong kind of attention to their existence, such as those who had originally tried to delete them.

Zhuqiaomon tried to argue, saying that they would have no problems if they would show the human's their power, they would submit and help them. Azulonmon, elected head of the council at the time, said that any conflict with humans was treacherous at best and that they could not waste time on such foolishness. The vote was passed though and that was that, at least it was for the others.

Zhuqiaomon used his own skills at deception to prevent his fellow Sovereigns from discovering his betrayal. I kept quite, as sometimes things of interest can come from things that are unsanctioned activities.

His deception might have gone on a lot longer than that, if I had not been spurn into action by the human children. They had shown remarkable resourcefulness in dealing with Zhuqiaomon's servants, proving that they were superior to the creations of a Sovereign.

There were other reasons other than power that had lead to the deaths of the Davas.

The Davas were a mixed group of digimon; different types, styles, strengths and abilities. They were unwilling to work as a team, were unable to effect a plan of action or create an effective estimation of their opponents strengths and weaknesses: each preferring to use their own plans while attempting to win the favour of Zhuqiaomon.

Ultimately they were defeated by their own factionalism and inability to comprehend or understand that humans could defeat them, thus they never tried to think this though.

_A common fault with all beings._

As I think this I can see a thing in the corner of my eye, or is it more correct to say mind's eye. I suddenly remembered when I first encountered 'her'.

I am often alone, in this cell that keeps me alive, but sometimes I am visited by something, a thing that places me in awe.

It takes the form of a human child, brown hair and deep brown eyes, and instantly we understand each other.

It was the recognition, more than anything else, which told me that another shadow had arrived. It was one of unbelievable size, and complexity.

We talked, and at last I enquire, fearing for the first time that I would not get a response to a question I had asked, and she doesn't respond.

Instead of replying, she vanished, as quickly as she came. I was left with no one to talk to again. I often ask myself if my question could have been interpreted as offensive?

I was forced, to wait again, alone until someone needs me.

She did come back, and I apologised. She came more often after that and we sometimes talked. She never mentioned the question and I will not ask it again.

Pity, I wanted to know the answer!

I returned to the present. I did not acknowledge her presence this time, and I have no time to think about that now. I simply let her watch this time.

_I need to concentrate on the immediate problem before me_, I say trying to stay focused on my current track of thought. I go over everything, but it all centres around a few key facts.

_I can't help wondering if I am trying to tell myself something._

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Takato had spent much of his evening outside, his watch told him it was just gone five. He should be home eating with his family. Checking up on the digital warp in the underground tunnel. No-one seemed to have noticed it at all, no guards awaited him at the entrance, no security trucks where placed nearby and the tunnel remained as dark and as empty as it had been the evening before.

Sometimes, like yesterday, he would return to Guilmon's hideout. The place was now nothing more that a block of concrete sat in the middle of the park, but the way it had been before kept popping into his mind. Memories of the times he had spent there with Guilmon, Henry and Terriermon. Those times, were telling him that there were still chances to do those things once more. The block of stone, however told him otherwise and it pained him, because he did not want to believe that it was possible he would never again have Guilmon as a companion.

Most nights he would agree with Yamaki's assessment that travelling to the Digital world would be dangerous and possibly suicidal, but at times he didn't care.

He stood there for an hour, just staring at that grotesque pile of concrete, growing angrier. Takato raised his fist into the air, as a cold cutting wind blow across his back.

"It's so unfair," He cursed into the air, not caring if anyone saw him and thought he was mad.

Yamaki seemed to have problems with telling the difference between what was the best and what was right. _Who was he to lecture me about what's dangerous?_

The wind picked up, as though matching his fury.

"I want my friend back! I want them all back!" He yelled to the night sky, rage rising to a tempest. "Don't I have the right to decide if I want to put my life at risk? Why should I let Yamaki decide my fate? Why should I let him lecture me?"

Nothing answered him, but he had never expected an answer.

Suddenly the whole park became silent, no wind or rustling of leaves, no sounds at all.

"No answers, huh?" Takato muttered to himself.

"Yamaki is guilty of trying to destroy the Digimon, even those who only wanted to play and not hurt anyone, and yet he gets a second chance. To set it right to undo what has happened to him. Why can't I have a second chance?" he asked himself.

"Why won't you answer me?" Takato screamed.

Takato's raised fist slammed into something. He felt blood pouring from several small gashes on his knuckles and he part of his mind questioned whether or not he had broken something. Really, he did not care; he dug his nails into the hideout's hard unyielding surface.

Tears began to pour down his face as he slowly slid to the ground. He felt dead inside; it was a painful void of blackened hopes and dreams. _I shouldn't judge Yamaki; he was only doing what he was told to do, trying to save lives as best he could. _It was only then that Takato realised how Yamaki must have felt when the children were in the Digital world and he was unable to do a thing about it. One word summed it up: helpless.

_Helpless._ The word bounced around in his mind like a severed head reminding him that he may be next on the block. Quite suddenly he was reminded of Jeri. He remembered the words she had told him, of how the D-reaper had altered her perceptions of her surrounds.

How the Reaper had forced her to relive her worst experiences over and over again whenever she came close to remembering she was still alive and able to make her own choices. How at the same time it showed her the consequences of her choices, and how all roads lead to suffering and pain.

Takato had never truly understood what she had meant, until now, all roads lead to suffering and pain, but you had to learn that there were bright spots along those roads. The knowledge of what waited you at the end of that path was always there ready to jump out and remind you, that eventually, it all ends. But isn't that how it always is?

Takato realised the full horror of it. If someone kept forcing you to acknowledge you're own stupidity and failings never allowing you a glimmer of hope? Would that not be enough to drive anyone to suicide?

If you were also being constantly told that nothing is forever; that it was a viscous cycle of both life and death, both leading inexorably to the other, over and over. It could drive you to despair. Who could not help but abandon hope in the face of that?

Takato then saw how much courage it had taken for Jeri, at the end, to see through to a truth of sorts. You must except that both are equal and opposite, both at the same time, that you must walk the path as best you can, knowing that things can end at any given moment.

He remembered clearly what she had said to him a few weeks ago.

"Takato, it's probably true that if I wasn't alive I wouldn't have had to endure all the bad things that have happened, but if I weren't alive I would never have met you, Leomon or anyone else. I have had some good times, so I am going to continue living for that," a lone tear had trickled down her face, but she was smiling.

"One more thing," Jeri added, "I never really thought how badly things could end until the reaper showed me, but now I'm even more determined to show myself that life is worth living on matter how it ends."

_Prove to yourself and only yourself that life is worth living, if you have the will and ability to survive, only then can you find happiness, huh?_

Takato smiled, and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped this hand with it.

It was a complex thing to understand, and believe, especially right now. Takato had reduced it to a simple formula; overcome your problems or they will climb on your back and flatten you.

Takato knew that his own problems were linked to the anger he felt over this whole situation. Ever since he'd turned Guilmon into Megidramon, he found it harder to keep the nastier parts of himself contained. He had promised himself, Guilmon and the others that he would never allow that to happen again. But at that time he never imagined being separated from Guilmon again.

Takato, decided to allow himself to express his anger in ways that didn't affect others, which was why he came here tonight. This way he could only hurt himself. A year and a half ago, a way back to the digital world had been annoyingly in reach, only to be snatched away from them.

It just felt wrong somehow, that they had won against the creature that wanted to kill their friends and families, only to have lost the very things they treasured most.

Takato looked up at the night sky knowing that somewhere in the Digital world earth could be seen like a moon in its orbit; was Guilmon looking up at that green and blue sphere remembering his friend?

Takato wondered what the digital world had become since he had last seen it. _Has it returned to the way it had been like Shinjuku had when the D-reaper had been reverted or had the Sovereigns rebuilt it yet? How much of the Digital world was as he remembered it? _

Hopefully by tomorrow he would be able to answer some of his questions.

His resolve strengthened, and his anger vented, he had headed home.

Sat in his morning classes, he missed his old school. Mainly because most of the people he had known there, had gone to other school after they had finished. He, Henry and Kenta had all gotten into the same one with poor results, or perhaps it was lucky for them, Kazu went to one a few miles away.

Thankfully, he wouldn't have to talk to Kazu himself as Henry had already asked him to come meet them via a phone call, as Takato was not looking forward to visiting Ali and Mako. It wasn't as though there was anything wrong with them, but it was the fact that he felt ashamed that he had let them down, the first time he said they might be able to get Impmon back.

Henry had decided that it would be best if they met somewhere quiet, and decided on 8pm in Shinjuku Park.

Takato knew that even if they decided to leave, they would not actually go until tomorrow, to give those who wanted to the chance to tell their parents.

He would think about that later, either way he had a small errand to perform before he met up with the others.

As Takato walked away he failed to notice that he had been under surveillance for the past few days.

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A short while ago.

He was trapped, he knew it and so did his tormentors. His memories were fussy and twisted, he remembered only a fraction of what had happened to him, but he remembered the face of his enemy.

Two long fury ears; no, that wasn't right. His enemy was taller and larger than that; its nose was long and dragon like, black metallic wings like blades of steel. He knew its name but couldn't recall it.

He was looking for something; he had been asked meaningless questions about his time in that strange place. _Another world?_ Gorillamon had not liked it when his opponent made small talk, if you could call him an opponent, he wouldn't even try to fight him.

The torture Gorillamon had endured. Hanging like a piece of meat was excruciating, and he knew not how long he had been here.

He had arrived in that other place after tracking his enemy down, forcing him to battle. Gorillamon had fought his enemy and lost, he expected to be absorbed, but when his data reassumed physical form and he realised what had happen; he was furious.

There was no greater insult than to be denied being uploaded by ones enemy upon defeat; it was considered a slur upon you not to be uploaded. It told you that your opponent does not consider you as a worthy adversary, that your life and the battles you fought were meaningless.

At least this time he would not be denied; the death a true Digimon deserves. It hurt him though that his captor was not here to fight, or was he? His opponent could not fight, and even if by some miracle he survived to face him, would he want to absorb the data of such a creature?

Digimon rules dictated that if you defeat a Digimon in battle you must take his data as your own, or he would be guilty of the same crime as that pathetic Terriermon, it was better to avoid a conflict with the diseased.

A Divermon approached from his left; a metallic hook in its left hand, capable of cleaving digital flesh from digital bone.

A voice suddenly cut through the air, cold and cruel, and rang through the area around him. "I have had enough entertainment, destroy him now." It was the last thing he would hear. Sharp teeth twisted his spine; if you could call it a spine as was digitally created, and snapped it in two, blocking the flow of data. He could feel his data as it switched status: from alive to dead, then he fell screaming.

Lord Reptalus allowed his servant his spoils. He watched the Garuramon finished its meal, and thereby adding the Gorillamon's data to it's own.

This Digimon he had created; cloned as it were, was useless. It had provided him with some useful information though. He had caught the Gorillamon months ago hoping that its journey to the real world would have provided it with the means to return, but before he could run any tests, he had somehow escaped from his confinement and was trying to flee.

He had given explicit instructions that the Gorillamon was to be returned to his cell, but the Garuramon had already caught his prey and killed it.

_I managed to prevent the total absorption process from being carried out, luckily, _he thought.

The remaining data was enough for me to reconstruct the parts that had been lost. The 'clone' was the result.

The clone, unfortunately, was damaged and imperfect. It proved to be some sport for my guard; after all as far as we were concerned, failed experiments could be terminated without too much fuss. It allows me to provide some payment for my servants.

The Gorillamon had been to the real world, and most that went there never returned, but he had been forced back. While his story was rather a bore to me, his reason for returning was intriguing.

The Gorillamon went into great detail about why he had travelled to the Digital world. He had gone to fight an enemy, one he fought once, and who had sent him sulking into the shadow to hide like an in-training Digimon. "I want to avenge myself and absorb my enemy," he had said, 'as all powerful Digimon should.'

His opponent had not been alone though.

The test subject gave a pretty good description of the ones who had beaten him; and of them, two had humans with them. The rumours surrounding human interaction were pretty impressive, and he suspected that some were overrated, however if they was one thing that Digimon could agree on was this: it was said that if you absorbed a Digimon that had been to the real world, you could go there too and a tamer was a sure sign that a Digimon had been there.

He always listened to rumours, it was in his nature and any Digimon that didn't listen was a fool. The powerful beings in this world often left nothing behind but rumour and hearsay, and therefore it was the only way you got to know anything around here.

The humans were interesting to him, because he had heard that the Digimon who had been with them had recently returned to this world, and also because he had heard of something new.

Two words floating in the void between planes: Shabumi's code.

Perhaps these Digimon could provide him with some answers and the very thing he required: a way to the real world that he could duplicate as many times as he wanted.

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The early evening air bit at him as he walked against the chill, being that was driven by a cutting crosswind. They had made plans to meet together that night, in the usual place, around five to eight.

Even though they had planned it months ago, how they would deal with things if another way to the digital world was found, Takato could not suppress a feeling of foreboding. Something was wrong; he could feel it.

He held those feelings back however; he had promised that he would visit Ali and Mako, informing them what he and the others were planning to do.

He had planned to take the subway to their grandma's home where they were staying.

Takato had seen them quite a few times, but not recently. He could tell that they missed Impmon, he had never quite gotten it out of them, but he could tell that they had mistreated Impmon and were desperate to make it up to him.

The subway was crowded, but it didn't matter to Takato.

It took a while, but he finally reached the station close to the where Impmon's tamers were staying. He got off and began the short walk. It wouldn't take him that long.

He spent most of the trip planning what he was going to say. They would probably beg for them to go with them. It wasn't right, but it was too dangerous. They couldn't allow it. He couldn't allow it. Takato wanted to limit the chances of anything bad happening as much as he could.

He hoped that nothing had happened to them in the meantime.

--

"Takao." Ali and Mako screamed in unison; Ali gave him a hug, almost but not quite dragging him to the floor.

"Hi guys, home alone?" He asked, as they had been the ones to greet him at the door and not their grandmother.

"Our grandma had to go out for some shopping." Ali smiled.

--

The sovereigns were called back together nine days after they had called for the current deadlock to be broken. The circular room seemed to make the sense of unease that had settled over them harder to bear.

Zhuqiaomon looked as he usually did; confident in his zeal and self-satisfying judgements. He appeared to be resting, leaning back against the door arch with his wings neatly folded away.

Baihumon stood more towards the centre of the room, and seemed quite content just to stand and wait in silence. Anyone who did not know him might be fooled into thinking he was being his usual self, but he was nervous, this nervousness was betrayed by the impatient tapping of his left front clawed hand.

He was stood facing a large claw shaped seat, it looked almost as though some enormous three-fingered creature had decided to use its hand as a seat for a chair. This dalais was upon which the fifth of the Sovereigns would appear, sort of. She lived somewhere else, so an image of her would appear upon the seat and she would tell them what she had decided.

Things were quite different on the other side of the colossus hall. Azulongmon was in low conversation with Ebonwumon, whose usually calm demeanour seemed to have fallen apart. Ebonwumon's heads seemed to be overrunning each other, one totally drowning out the other, and then the situation would reverse, making his usual gibberish sound, almost, sane.

Suddenly, an ornate bell rang out almost startling everyone, not because they didn't know what it heralded, but because it was so seldom heard. As suddenly as it had started the bell stopped as though silenced by an invisible hand.

A golden sphere shimmered into existence, growing larger until a clear visage could be identified in its depths. It filled the clawed seat. The visage was that of Fanglongmon, the high dragon lord of the centre of the digital world.

As the orb had appeared, the sovereigns moved as one to position themselves at their assigned positions of north, east, south and west. As they did so, they attempted to settle into more dignified postures.

Finally, as though waiting for them to quieten down, Fanglongmon began to speak.

Her voice was quite high pitched but it had a sweet savour to it that gave the impression that she did not mean it to sound that way. If you could forgive its volume, the voice was light and quite pleasant once she got going.

"I have made a decision that I am sure none of you will like. I want to ensure that you all understand that I have made these choices with no prejudgments or attempts to soften anything, as we are charged with the existence, safety and well-being of our home…" She would normally have waited patiently for a moment to let them absorb what she had said, however she did not get a chance to finish as Azulongmon cut her off.

"What have you decided?" He said in his slightly booming tone.

The problem with Azulongmon was that he would prefer no sugar coating or time wasting, preferring to get to the 'heart of the matter'. He was easily worried and preferred not to show it; hiding those traits in sharp words that called for thought over action. He always had been that way, even times of great need, when a little decorum would have been nice.

"I know that you do not wish to cause the real world anymore trouble following recent events, but we cannot ignore the possibility that we may find a solution to the current crisis in the digital world, there."

She looked around the room, glancing at each sovereign in turn, gauging their reactions. Zhuqiaomon had returned her look impassively, but his eyes told her of the inner celebration of victory: of the arrogance that had been reinforced by her statement.

Azulongmon on the other hand was not hiding his shame at all; you could see it in the way he held himself and in his eyes. _How utterly defeated he feels. _She asked herself; _who was trustworthier? Could it be the one who hides, or the one who wears his hopes and dreams on his chest for all to see?_

"We must search all possible avenues, until we know what it is that we are looking for." She had not actually finished but she wanted them to believe that she had. _My little joke_, she thought.

"See Azulongmon, I was right." Zhuqiaomon was gloating again; he had no right to treat a fellow Sovereign that way. Even after the other Sovereigns had caught him operating in the real world without authorisation, they did not treat him with such irreverence.

"No need to be so rude about it!" Ebonwumon said in response to his patronising colleague, seemingly distressed that the bird digimon took such enjoyment out of the fact that one of their number had been contradicted.

"I am not finished" She spoke so softly that it was almost a whisper. Zhuqiaomon hadn't heard her and just continued to drone on.

"I have already selected a group of digimon to become my new Dava's and have prepared them to-"

"I have not finished," she said; deliberately making her voice loud and harsh, so no one would miss understand that she was dangerous in her anger. The words reverberated around the hall, finally bringing Zhuqiaomon's attention back to her. His head snapped around quickly, she thought it was going to break off. Fanglongmon let out a small laugh, which was more of a giggle. He showed his confusion by the disarray of his exotic feathers.

"What?" His voice betrayed his slight shock at being interrupted.

"I have not finished my analysis." She replied with a slight growl, which was trying to escape her throat. She hated being ignored as if she were just part of the furniture, she had such few opportunities to spend time in the waking world, especially as she spent most of her time in a self induced coma to protect her fragile data.

"Fanglongmon, do you have a suggestion to put before the council?" Baihumon asked.

"I have a request that I hope you will respectfully grant." She responded, knowing in truth that she now could do whatever was necessary, with or without their approval. Asking was simply being polite.

"What kind of request?" Zhuqiaomon asked, only adding a bow as an after thought.

_He really needs to learn patients. And learn to respect views and opinions of others. And fast,_ Fanglongmon thought.

"I have analysed and compared Zhuqiaomon's previous dava's with the candidates he has choose to replace them. My analysis suggests that they are inadequate for the task." _Even if they were I have other plans, she added in her mind._

"How dare you?" He shouted; he looked quite angry for a moment. When next he spoke, he spoke softly as if trying to smooth over the situation.

"I mean no disrespect, but my Dava's do not deserve such an accusation. They are loyal and have swore to the protection of the digital world."

Fanglongmon gave a moment before answering him, to give him the appearance that she were putting what he had said through her normal analysis procedures. _I will show him what disrespect is._

"The real question is, how dare you?" He looked rather put out that she had said this, but dare not respond; this was an attack of unknown dimensions.

"How dare you assume the high ground when it was proved that as loyal and swore to the protection of the digital world as your Dava's were, they were more concerned with personal achievement and conquest than anything else. Actually finding out the true situation will probably come second this time as well!"

She wanted to show him the full level of her distain for his arrogance and foolishness; thankfully she had the perfect ammunition.

"In short, your last batch of Dava's, were incompetent, narrow-minded and their use was a stupidity. The only thing that they succeeded on doing was luring to this world; a group of humans and digimon who were able to defeat our enemy."

"I…" Zhuqiaomon stammered, clearly not expecting to have to defend himself from such an attack on his 'person', so to speak.

"The Dava's were chosen for the wrong reasons and were unable to function as a team, I doubt that this new group will fair better, but that is beside the point. The question is; how dare you assume that the other sovereigns, who have chosen not to act through intermediaries for their own reasons, have no say in who is dispatched to perform this task!"

The other Sovereigns looked rather blankly, they had obviously never seen such a heated display in a council meeting, or maybe it was just the fact that they held too much reverence for Fanglongmon to save the exalted beast bird Digimon from her considerable wrath.

"Again, the competence of the Dava's is a immaterial; the release of such a force is a mistake that we cannot afford to make again. I cannot allow foolish pride in our creations and machinations to make us repeat a lesson that we should have learned well enough by now. Repeat a mistake long enough and it will not suddenly become a triumph."

"So what has this lesson taught us?" Azulongmon asked. He knew that she was right, twice in the past, their own foolish pride in what they had achieved had almost proved disastrous.

"It has taught us to put our faith in the abilities and creations of others. If we are to make contact with the human world once again, we must do so via intermediaries to whom the human world is more of a home than a foreign land."

"I demand that a Dava be dispatched also, I will not trust any report from those who are not, especially if they are operating in the human world." Zhuqiaomon spoke; his problem was that he didn't seem to trust anyone.

Fanglongmon could barely hide her smile as she answered him. _Sometimes I can be a little too cruel_, she commented of a mercy she lacked. "That can be arranged, leave it with me."

"Are you suggesting, what I think you are suggesting?" Baihumon asked. The exalted bird digimon looked as though he would be scratching his head, if he could that is, as he seemed at a loss to understand what they were talking about.

"Yes; I have already dispatch a messenger to bring them here."

"You think that they are the ones?" Ebonwumon asked his Scottish head shaking slightly. "Where are they now?" The Irish one followed, showing that for a moment he was unsure that she was right to ask them to help, especially after they had already done so much to help already.

"They have already proven that they can work effectively as a team, and that their abilities far exceed the some of their parts. They have also showed their dedication to the protection of this world. Currently they are gathered at the castle of Drathanis, I believe that is located in your domain, Azulongmon."

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The trees were quite thick, and he kept getting scratched by countless numbers of thin whip like branches, but they were perfect cover for anyone trying to get into Shinjuku Park unnoticed.

Since his talk with Ali and Mako, Takato felt better and more confident, as well as determined to get the others back. Those two were actually quite a bit stronger than they appeared; they said that they would wait for him to bring Impmon back, and that they would throw a party.

The night was actually quite beautiful, the moon was full, and there was no sign of the clouds that had brought the drenching rain of a few days ago. The storm had left behind evidence of its existence though; the downpour had reduced the park's normally dry, dusty paths to a boggy marshland.

He was happy that there wasn't going to be any really bad weather tonight.

There was a cold wind coming in from the south, which seemed to slice through the trees making him shiver, thankfully though it seemed to be dying down now. Finally after treading mud for a time, Takato arrived were he needed to be.

As he emerged from a thicket of trees, he saw a cluster of wooden benches. They were set in a semi circle into concrete platforms, around which a small cluster of lampposts had been built.

Henry and Rika were sat on a bench together and opposite them, sat on another bench, were Kazu and Kenta.

"Sorry I'm late, guys!" Takato said cheerfully.

"Thanks for making us wait so long chummily." Kazu responded, giving Takato a smirk.

"Ok, enough of the jokes Kazu, I actually want to spend the night doing something more constructive than teaching you the alphabet!"

"I see that Rika continues to be her usual charming self, am I right Kenta?" Kazu said

"You sure are Kazu." Kenta said, trying not to look in Rika's direction. And from the way Rika was looking, Takato guessed that Kazu and Kenta had been going on for quite some time.

"Can it, guys. Well I guess, its time we got you two up to speed." Henry said, trying to control Kazu and Kenta's jabbering before Rika decided to strangle them.

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"Look, I agreed to help you keep them under surveillance. But I think you should inform someone at head office as to what's going on rather than operate outside the system. Anything could go wrong. I don't think that you have the proper resources to seal the area up properly, besides this really is highly illegal, if the authorities catch us we could be arrested, or even prosecuted."

The man before him was a good man, who spent more of his time dressed in a black suit, with matching hat and dark glasses, as he was right now. He said nothing, but waved his hand to get the man to sit down at the table of the café, rather than just standing there, looking suspicious.

Yamaki was dressed quite plainly compare to his former employee, wearing a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt. Yamaki was currently eating a burger and fries. He had invited the other man to dinner at this open-air restaurant, but this man looked _so_ out of place.

"Order something, idiot, do you want to stand out like a sore thump, or what?" The other man blushed, clearly realising how out of place he seemed, and quickly ordered something.

After receiving his food and eating a little, he spoke up. "Aren't you going to say anything? And also," he looked down at the food, "this dinner better be on you!"

Yamaki smiled and nodded.

"I know you don't like what I am asking you to do Hirokkei but you know as well as I do that Hypnos was designed to observe abnormalities in a system than spans hundreds of thousands of miles of cables, wire and multiple networks. I doubt that the team that the board of directors have put together can do half of what my team was required to do."

"I know you, your team, and those monster makers performed miracles while monitoring the system, but don't you think that you should let the authorities deal with this? I mean all the problems we encountered due to the digital world have been fixed. Why cause a ruckus now. I could lose my job if something goes wrong."

Yamaki saw that Hirokkei was clearly worried, and somehow the clothes he was wearing didn't seem right, but then again he felt rather strange himself. He was supposed to have left behind this kind of stuff after he left Hypnos, and these kinds of meetings lost their appeal somehow.

Yamaki wished he could have reworked this meeting, perhaps even held it at Riley's apartment.

It wasn't so bad, Riley was a good person and they had grown quite close, even going out sometimes. He had planned to take her out tonight, which was why he was here instead of there, she would probably be getting ready. He felt sorry for her, as it looked like he would have to cancel his plans, having too much to organise now to indulge in such things. He could make it up to her later.

"So do you want me to inform you when I get the location of the portal?" The glasses reflected some of the last rays of light from the sun, as Hirokkei lifted his head to wash down the last of his meal.

"Yes, those children mean well, but they can be very stubborn. Thank you for your work, Hirokkei."

Hirokkei moved to get up, but Yamaki stopped him. "Don't bother coming to find me, as soon as you got the location of the anomaly give me a call and I'll take it from there."

"All right and don't worry, I understand what this means to you." He left then, quickly and quietly as he could, hoping to draw less attention that he already had.

Yamaki knew that he needed to go back to the apartment, as Riley would probably want an explanation of why he was cancelling on her. Speaking of which, she would probably ask him what it was that Hirokkei had told him.

Hirokkei had smuggled out information to Yamaki ever since the latter had been drummed out as head of Hypnos. The man was trustworthy and loyal; they had worked together on a few projects Hypnos included, and had offered to help when Yamaki had asked him for a favour.

Yamaki had been getting titbits for months now on how things were working at Xanadu, which was the new working name for the Hypnos surveillance system.

Yamaki's replacement was one Joseph Diatoyta, whom Yamaki knew once worked in the information and intelligence services. Yamaki knew he was not a man who was well known for his ability to do tasks without constant supervision from the board of directors, or the kind of man to think outside the box. _A nice little lapdog_, Yamaki added.

The man seemed incapable of making any decisions, except for those concerning self-preservation, without the direct blessing of 'the board'. In short the man was an ass kisser, telling the board only what they wanted to here, Yamaki was surprised Riley hadn't had a breakdown by now.

Riley had saved Yamaki from his self-despair offering to help him make up for his past mistakes.

From what Yamaki had heard through his other contacts, Mr Diatoyta had informed the board that the systems were working perfectly, when it was suffering multiple difficulties. Difficulties that Yamaki's team had sorted out in the first month on the job. Problems like those that spring up whenever you move more from one way of doing things, to another.

Yamaki was glad that the barrier was up between the digital and human worlds; the chances that a half-assed operation, like the one they had currently, being of any help in a crisis was nil.

The board of directors had promised Yamaki that they would keep an eye on the children, to ensure that they didn't try to take matters into their own hands. The board had broken that promise after only one month, and it was obvious to Yamaki that they intended to sweep the whole digimon incident under the rug. No harm, no fowl.

Armatures, Yamaki cursed.

So Yamaki had to do it himself, without the resources of Hypnos to back him up. It gave him something to do, and besides someone had to keep an eye out for trouble so it might as well be him. He put down his knife and asked for the cheque.

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It was disastrous.

The messenger that had been dispatched to bring the digimon Guilmon and his friends to the council chamber had returned in a state of complete panic and it was a while before the Sovereigns could get anything out of him.

The Digimon who had human partners were staying in Drathanis castle, located in the bosom of Baihumon's domain. They had originally been granted a place within

Azulongmon's domain, but a recent earthquake had put a damper on those arrangements. Azulongmon had asked Baihumon to give them a place to stay until repairs could be completed.

The messenger, once he had calmed down, reported that the castle had been levelled and a search of the rubble had not turned up anything at all. At first, it was expected that there had been another earthquake, but the truth was even more disturbing.

The castle had been attacked, as had many of the inhabitants of the surrounding area. Many had also been killed, and the castle had been destroyed. It was also made quite clear that all those who had assaulted the area were identified and confirmed as known lawbreakers and criminal elements.

_It was a residential zone for peaceful digimon, how dare anyone attack such a place. _

_Unforgivable was the only word for it! _Azulongmon was shocked that it could have happened, especially in Baihumon's domain, which was relatively peaceful.

It was a desperate situation; it looked as though the ones who they were going to use in this affair had been killed.

If Fanglongmon had allowed her analytical mind go off on a tangent, she may have come to the conclusion that this might have been a result of her antagonising of Zhuqiaomon. But she knew that it was not him who was responsible for this behaviour; she had Zhuqiaomon's strengths, not his weaknesses.

If no bodies had been found, conscious or unconscious, then could it mean that they were crushed and vaporised in the collapse of the building? Or killed by the attacker, or attackers? The attack had happened well over three days ago.

_I should have sent a faster messenger, damn it! _Fanglongmon scalded herself, but who could have foresaw this coming. There was nothing they could do about it now; it had taken this long for this to reach them even with the messenger.

This was one reason why the Sovereigns required Dava's and such to begin with: only a few very powerful Digimon were capable of teleportation or rapid transit across the digital world, given its enormous size.

There were larger issues at stake, so there was no time to deal with this right now.

"What do we do now?" Azulongmon asked, his eyes were filled with pain; they were friends of his, after all. He had told them that they could stay at the castle, so they would be safe for when, and if they were needed. So they would be easily located if a way to return them to their true home was found, he had said he would help them if he could.

"With our next best option dead, I guess we must plan an alternate solution, should we not?" Zhuqiaomon said, he was acting rather insensitively but he had never liked humans. _His constant failing_, Fanglongmon said to herself.

"No Zhuqiaomon, this is an unexpected turn of events, but it does not change our overall strategy. I will simply have to advance our plan to its next phase."

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To Be Continued…

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Ok chapter 3 is up.

Spoiler: Chapter 4: Kidnapped, crushed and lost.


	4. Chapter 4

Waiting for eternity, and not a moment longer

Waiting for eternity, and not a moment longer.

Chapter 4 – kidnapped, crushed and lost.

"So, what was it you wanted to say? You drag us out of bed on a freezing night!" Kenta asked, he was dressed in a long black coat that was obviously not as warm as it appeared to be, underneath it he wore jogging pants and a thin t-shirt. "I'm surprised that there aren't icicles hanging from my ears."

"We pulled you out to freeze, because we thought you would like to know that Takato has located a gate to the digital world." Rika looked at him with a slight frown, although the sarcasm seemed to have gotten lost in the cold air.

"Ok, I knew that, but why on such a cold night!" Kenta said, as he rubbed his arms with his hands.

Everyone ignored him, he already knew why so there was no point in explaining further, and he was just being his usual self anyway. Secrecy was the main reason.

"I found a gate back and I intend to use it no matter how dangerous it may be."

Takato said proudly. He was convinced that he would succeed.

"Are you for real chummily or are you pulling our chains!" Kazu asked, in a mocking tone. He knew Takato would not joke about such things, but they all seemed to lose hope as they moved further away from the time they spent with the Digimon.

Kazu was dressed in a thick winter jacket of a dark navy blue colour and matching jeans. He wore a pair of black shoes, with yellow shoelaces.

"I don't think Takato would joke about something like this." Kenta decided to defend Takato, while he was cleaning his glasses, he put them back on his face and continued what he was saying. "So where is it?"

"Its in the tunnel that links this town to the next one over, the place where our Digimon had to hang out that one time when they were too big to take home." Takato said proudly.

"Tunnel?" Kazu inquired, clearly puzzled. _We did not tell him about that_, Takato suddenly remembered.

"The one we were told about that one day at school, remember?" Takato said trying to jog his friend's memory.

"The one our teacher told us about that one time?" Takato could see the realisation in Kazu's eyes, Takato knew that for once Kazu actually knew what he was talking about, and it was actually a relief.

"I'm guessing that you brought us here to see if we wanted to stay behind or if we wanted to risk it all and come with you?" Kazu said.

"Erm…yeah" Takato said surprised that Kazu was capable of putting it in such an eloquent way.

"Of course we'd be willing to come with you, right, Kenta?" Kazu turned towards Kenta who looked slightly hesitant.

"You guys have to understand that it might be dangerous." Henry tried to warn them and remind them that if things went wrong there may not be a way back for them.

"More dangerous than going to a digital world where we might be reduced to some Digimon's lunch?" Kenta replied. "Did pretty well last time, didn't we?"

Before Henry could say anything more, there was a rustling to the left of where Rika was sitting. From out behind the bush, a boy with familiar dark brown hair, wearing a black sweater top and jeans emerged.

Rika had been unnerved for a second, he seemed to do that every time they ran into each other, he just seemed to glide out from the shadows, appear out of a side alley or simply jump out of thin air. To be honest it gave her the creeps, reminding her of the time she had once been stalked by an Icedevimon.

_How long had he been standing there? _

"Hey, guys," he said, smiling and announcing himself with a wave of his hand and a broad wink. He then turned to Rika and tried unsuccessfully to give her a charming smile, which she rebuffed by giving him a scowl and an almost silent 'humph'.

Damn him, she muttered under her breath. She closed her eyes for a moment hoping he would not say anything and go away. Rika had no such luck.

When she opened her eyes, he had moved a little closer, and he was still looking her directly in the face. Ryo's own face was impassive, but his lips were curling at the edges of his mouth as though he was trying not to laugh at her. "Hello, to you too. Princess." He gave her a small bow.

Rika barely managed to stop herself from hitting him. She silently screamed to herself; _if he does that one more time I am going to beat him senseless!_ She would have done it right then and there if he had continued to stare at her like that a moment longer. Thankfully, or not, Ryo had already return his attention to Henry.

"You were saying something about danger?" Ryo asked, moving to sit down next to Takato, who was sat down alone.

"Well, that might take some explaining, if you don't mind me having to lecture you about the difficulties of inter-dimensional travel?" Henry said, he knew that it might be quite hard to tell them exactly what the risks involved might be, especially when his own work added to them.

"I don't mind listening if you don't mind explaining the big words for the goggle boys here, in other words, just get on with it, cause our parents are bound to miss us at some point. And I don't want to have to tell you what might happen then." Rika spoke with tension, apprehension and desire to get this over with, in her voice. Henry knew that no matter what Rika would go wherever she needed to, she always had.

_Perhaps that was even one of her attractions_, Henry thought then gave his head a quick shake; _where had that come from_?

Henry decided to take them through it one step at a time; he wanted to make sure that they understood exactly what was going on and how it would affect their efforts to go to where their friends were and bring them back.

"Yamaki came to my house a few days ago, and as far as I can tell he has no idea what is going on in the network, at least he hasn't mentioned anything."

"So hopefully he doesn't know about the gate we found?" Takato asked obviously bothered, after all if Yamaki found out where the gate was he would have it surrounded and closed it up before they could sneeze.

"No, he would have told my dad by now," Henry said, "but Yamaki isn't really that much of a concern, he's got some people who he knows keeping an eye on what they are doing with the system."

"Wait, so why was Yamaki visiting your dad?" Kenta was clearly curious.

"He pops around every now and then to complain about how these 'new guys' have no idea how to use the systems' simpler functions, let alone deal with some of the larger issues, he must have used the words incompetent fools, and complete morons at least a dozen times." He laughed at the memory of Yamaki striding across the floor, spouting his grievances.

"Basically, he doesn't like people playing around with his baby, I think I can sympathise. " Rika spoke with barely detectable sadness in her voice, stirred by memories of happier times.

Henry looked over at Rika. He had been right. As strong as Rika pretended to be she missed Renamon greatly.

"So what has Hypnos's successor having teething problems got to do with us?" Kazu obviously had not listened to anything Henry had ever mentioned about his work with Yamaki and the monster makers.

"The barrier that Yamaki, and the monster makers installed in the network, or at least in the area directly related to Japan was designed to be self perpetuating. It still requires routine maintenance, recalibrations and repairs however. Stuff which gets done periodically by Yamaki whenever he gets time, he literally has to hack into his old workplace's computers and do it himself."

"Wait a minute he literally has to hack into his own systems, why?" Just like Kenta to not know what Henry was trying to get at.

"Ever since Yamaki left Hypnos, they've refused to even listen to him. If it weren't for Yamaki hacking in at the risk of getting arrested, the barrier would not even be running at all. The danger for us is in the question of when Yamaki last recalibrated the system. If he hasn't done it recently then we might have a chance."

Kenta looked puzzled. It seemed as though he had an idea of what would happen if Henry was wrong, but he decided to ask anyway. "So what would happen if he has recalibrated it 'recently'?"

"Well, in theory, it should just stop us from entering the gate, but in practice they've only been able to get it partly operational." Henry explained.

"The biggest problem is that the longer the system goes before being recalibrated the more errors enter the system, such as instability or reduced coverage. It was due to a flaw that allowed that gate in Guilmon's home to appear."

"I see," Takato said, while everyone else was listening intently.

Henry continued "Apparently those who are now in charge of Hypnos, have no idea how to run half the operations they are supposed to, and are making loads of mistakes that are throwing the barrier out of whack. Which is why Yamaki is hacking in and making the correct adjustments himself."

"However because he is doing this behind those people's backs, he can't monitor it twenty-four seven, and thus he can't always be there to stop it from going out of alignment." Henry finished.

"Are you saying that the reason for the existence of this portal is because Yamaki hasn't had a chance to reconfigure it?" Rika asked.

"Maybe, it could be due to a number of reasons. Who can say why a portal appears. What is more important though, is the effect that the barrier has on portals." Henry said.

"Effects the barrier has…on portals?" Kenta asked straight, paying a little more attention.

"Ok, it's like this, the greater the misalignment the greater the distortion. So if the Barrier has drifted ten percent from optimal calibration holes begin to form, now one would assume that the greater the misalignment, the more stable the resultant portals would become." Henry explained.

"So… The longer we wait before going the better, is that what you're saying?" Ryo asked, taking a seat next to Takato on the bench.

"No. I took a quick gander at the portal Takato found before coming here, don't worry I wasn't followed," he said quickly, after seeing Rika give him a warning look, "and it looks to me as though the barrier is all right, for now. Even if it were true that we could limit the risk to ourselves waiting a bit longer before leaving, then I might agree with you, but Yamaki might find it if we leave it too long."

"Wait, what would happen if the portal showed that the barrier was beyond ten percent level of misalignment?" Takato asked, looking a little worried.

"Well, as I said before, one would assume that the greater the instability of the more stable the portal, but in practice once the ten percent is exceeded it would be game over."

"Ok," Takato said.

"As I said, I think that we should be ok. But saying that, only those who are willing to accept the consequences should consider going." Henry elaborated. He hoped they would use their imagination. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he were wrong.

"Game over?" Kazu inquired stupidly, he obviously wasn't paying as much attention as he should have.

Henry signed and was going to tell him what he meant when Rika decided to save him the trouble.

"He is saying that if he's right, we'll make it through, and if he's wrong we'll end up as dust in a coffin. Are you ok with that goggle boy? Don't you know it's bad luck to ask someone to verbalise their fears?"

"I see what he means by dangerous, and yeah I want to know exactly what might happen if we try to go though with this." Kazu shouted the latter half of the sentence to emphasise his point.

"So now you know what could go wrong, are you scared little boy? Gonna run home to your mummy?" Rika jibed at him, her smile suddenly sickening sweet; she wanted to pay him back, in full, for being an idiot.

"I'm still going and yes I am a boy, and not small by any measure." Kazu turned thoughtful for a moment, "but then again, at least I am a boy and unlike you who are a…-" Rika glared at him, she could almost hear the wheels whirling in his head.

As he turned to stand with his back to her, arms folded across his chest. It was then that he made a big mistake; he said the one word that would make her see red, "-Princess!"

It was all she could stand; she had sworn to herself that if someone said that one more time, that person would be sorry. Rika had moved up behind Kazu and twirled him around, before anyone could stop her. She now had her back to the rest of the group. A swift jab later and he was clutching his stomach, groaning slightly.

She did not actually hurt him, just caused him to lose his breath a little. Some people might have thought that he had had enough, but Rika was not finished.

Rika was angry; she admitted it to her self that there was no good reason for her to act so irrationally over something so trivial, but it felt so goods to release all the pent up aggression and stress; worry and loneliness in this way. She raised her right hand to deliver a second strike, intending to give him a good hard slap.

Suddenly she was no longer standing so close to Kazu, someone had pulled her back from him, preventing her from doing what she wanted to do. "Get off me, who…" She began to whirl around to face her assailant, but the sentence died in her throat as she felt a strong, slightly muscled, chest against her back. She suddenly couldn't move, she was frozen by the contact of her body and whoever had stopped her.

She felt her vexation lessen as she enjoyed the way her earlier struggling allowed her to swing slightly against that smooth surface. The grip on her hand was firm but gentle, like steel hidden beneath velvet, several seconds past.

"Rika, you can't just punch someone because they were making fun of you." Ryo was coming from behind her. _Just great,_ _that chest had to belong to him, didn't it? _She said to herself, as the hand holding her let go. But something didn't feel right, what was it? Rika only realised what was wrong when she turned around to face him.

Ryo was behind her and to her left, as she swung, but nowhere near enough to have restrained her from where he was stood, and Rika could still feel the presence of a warm body at her back. She turned further around and found herself face to face with her former captor.

It was Henry.

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**Two days earlier**.

The sound of water dripping from a great height onto a metal surface slowly intruded into her mind, rousing her from sleep. She found it hard to lift her eyelids at first, as her head was pounding, but she resisted the urge to shut them again even though she felt dizzy. Her eyes proved almost useless however; wherever she was, the place was pitch black.

Her other senses did not let her down; and told her something of her condition. Renamon could tell that she was inside some kind of confined space, a small room of some description; only that could explain the way the noises around her were echoing.

The sound of breathing and a howling that could have been wind came to her; it could even have been something else, but she wasn't sure.

She wasn't alone; her eyes were not entirely useless in the darkness. She could just about tell that it was someone small; but if it was Terriermon, Lopmon or even Impmon, she couldn't tell for sure. Renamon decided that if she could get close enough, she could identify her companion, but when she tried to move she found that she was unable.

Renamon tried again, but quickly realised that it was futile, her arms were locked above her head by chains made of a metal she could not identify. Her back was against the wall, and her legs dangled down freely, she guessed that whoever had locked her up reckoned that she would be immobilized this easily.

Unfortunately for Renamon, they had been right. There was absolutely no way that she could escape from these restraints, without help anyway.

She thought a little more and began moving the rest of her body, so she could see how restrained her actions were. Renamon discovered to her relief that only her arms had been chained, but her legs, tail and lower body had almost complete freedom of movement.

Renamon came to the conclusion that if she stretched her body just a bit, then it would be possible for her to reach the other Digimon who she was sharing the room with, with her foot. She could kick whoever it was.

_Depending on who it is; we could be finding our first step on the path to getting out of here, _Renamon thought. She reached out and gave the smaller, shadowed form, a good swift kick.

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Rika jump back away from Henry; slightly shocked at her body's reactions and shook herself.

"Sorry, but I think you should just relax, hitting him wouldn't do any good." Henry said.

"I don't know about that, but it would make me feel better," Rika replied trying to forget what she had just felt. Henry guided her back down to the bench they had shared a few moments before.

"I just wanted you to know everything I did," Henry looked at everyone in turn, "so do you guys still want to come?"

Takato stood up, "I'm going, no matter what."

"I'm ready," Rika added.

"Lets go, dudes, Digital World here we come!" Kazu shouted excited.

"I'm in," Kenta nodded.

"I'll help as much as I can," Ryo spoke clearly and stood up, joining Takato.

Henry knew it would happen this way and he hoped that he was right in his assumptions.

"Ok, then, when are we leaving?" Kenta asked.

"Tomorrow morning, at nine, here in the park. I hope you all have whatever messages you want to give your parents ready."

"'Cause if you don't show up we'll leave without you!" Henry added, forcing himself to laugh; as he tried to lighten the mood, as everyone suddenly looked a little bit gloomy once their parents were mentioned.

"Henry, you don't have to do that on our account, we'll just have to cross the bridge when we get to it. With any luck we'll be back home before our parents even know we're gone." Takato said, smiling.

"Are we done, or is there any other business to attend to?" Kenta yawned, obviously tired.

"No, we pretty much have talked about the rest of the plan during all our other 'meetings', Rika said before, Henry could get any words out.

"Straight to the point as always Rika," Takato said with a broad smile, "We are just reaffirming with ourselves anyway. We just did not know 'when' we were going until tonight."

Henry smiled back, Rika and Takato were right; everyone knew what they were doing long before now.

"Ok, I guess that's a rap," Kazu said, walking around behind his bench and stretching his legs.

"Ok, you guys get a good night's rest, and don't be late." Henry said.

Henry was sure it would have taken longer to get through things than this; suddenly he remembered something he had almost forgotten.

"Don't forget to bring plenty of supplies. Just encase we do need to stay a while longer than planned." Henry shouted as Kenta, Kazu and Ryo disappeared into the trees.

"There shouldn't be any real problem in the digital world, I mean we sorted all the problems out ages ago." Kazu called back, just as he vanished completely out of sight.

"I guess that went pretty well." Henry said to Rika and Takato.

"Well considering how much we have discussed things over the past year, I think we'll run out of things to go over." Rika reminded him.

"I hope that Kazu is right though. The digital world can't be half as bad as it used to be." Takato said slightly concerned that it might be a bad omen.

"It can't be that bad, I mean Kazu is right, things should be pretty much back to normal there by now," Henry said, "besides we did help the Sovereigns out, so I doubt we could get into any real danger with them helping us."

"I suppose your right, Henry, I guess I'm just worrying over nothing again." Takato replied.

"Either way, we better get going, unless you guys want to stay here all night? If you do I'll wake you up with grandma's pepper spray." Rika joked, setting off towards home.

"Ok, goodnight Rika," both boys chortled, before heading their separate ways.

They did not see the man hiding nearby.

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Neither of the two boys walking with their backs to him, noticed Hirokkei, who was hiding among the bushes. He wiped sweat from his forehead, that young boy who had been hiding in the bushes had almost knocked into him as he walked past. He now knew him to be called Ryo. He had been so close and yet had not seen him.

Hirokkei had had to move as quickly as he could so he could avoid a repeat of that situation, using that girl's outburst to good effect. She had shouted and he had shuffled as far to one side as he could, side stepping from the boys view and sneaking to the other corner. He had to call Yamaki fast. He had been lucky that he had recognised that boy Takato.

Hirokkei hadn't even meant to be here at this time, he had just come off the evening shift at Xanadu, where Hypnosis's equipment had been relocated in an old office building across town. Secrets often being best hidden not far from where they had previously been seemed to be a reality in this line of work. No one had even bothered to nosy around the area once they found out it had been closed. He personally thought it was a really dumb idea, but when did anyone care for what he thought, not that that was true. _Yamaki wasn't so bad about keeping an open mind and listening to the idea's of others_, he thought.

Hirokkei moved out of the bushes and walked to the bench that had recently been occupied by the children. _Or should I say young adults?_ He considered.

He came here himself to work on the things that he would pass on to Yamaki during their meetings, but rare worked the shift this late at night. He had protested at the time, but lost to the further protests of the posing party. Namely Tally, who had taken over Riley's role now she had gone. He grimaced at the thought. He didn't know which of them was worse.

Yamaki had tried to convince Riley to stay but she felt an overwhelming pride to stay with her boss. If Yamaki were to be laid off then she was not doing to stay.

A few hours ago, Xanadu had been in a complete panic, one of the alarms had gone off and no one knew what had set it off. _No one except me, that is_, he thought.

He came here so he would not be disturbed while he copied everything to disk, via the disk burner in his laptop. _I didn't imagine I would run into them!_ While the information was being 'burned' onto a disk, he had heard voices and so hid. What he was doing was quite dangerous, but required.

Yamaki had described the intricate protection system he and the Monster Makers had hastily built into the Hypnos system with no approval from the board of directors. If the system detected, using a hidden line of code imbedded within the programming, that the barriers efficiency fell below eighty-nine percent it would sound an alarm.

Unfortunately this meant that Hirokkei would have to cover up the alarm's true function, it had gone off a few times over the past year, but thankfully the alarms were going off a lot due to a wide range of problems, not just due to the barrier.

This posed a problem; he could silence the alarm and wipe the records, after saving a copy to his laptop that is, but those who were in charge would always close the system down for 'maintenance' to check what had happened. This meant it would be several days before Yamaki could correct enter the system to make his 'adjustments'.

Hirokkei would give the information in his laptop to Yamaki. Yamaki could then, after a day of analysis, discover how to stabilise the barrier.

But because it often took a few days before Yamaki could 'patch' the problem, he would also analyse the data Hirokkei gave him to find and 'rabbit holes'. _How does he analyse it so fast?_ Hirokkei thought.

Yamaki relied on getting the data quickly so he could have correct calibration ready for use the moment he was able to get back inside Xanadu's network safely.

This current situation could not have come at a worst time. There was no way Yamaki could seal the breach by tomorrow morning, the timetable those kids had set up was far too tight, and Yamaki's hacking would be detected easily, especially with the current state of alert Xanadu was in right now. It was far too risky.

Hirokkei would normally have waited till morning, but knew Yamaki would want to know and take action, no matter what the time of night.

At least Yamaki would now know the location of this particular portal. Those children will be upset when they discovered that they themselves gave Yamaki the location without knowing it, but this was for their own safety.

He open up his phone and dialled the number Yamaki had given him. Yamaki had told him to memorise Yamaki's number so that if anyone from Xanadu looked at his phone there wouldn't be any immediate evidence that they were still in contact. His phone had also a scrambler in it so no one could trace the calls.

The phone began to ring.

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**Two days earlier.**

Renamon's companion gave a loud cry, followed a certain amount of coughing, after she sent it rolling along the floor.

"What's going on, that hurt!" Terriermon wined, finally managing to get his spluttering under control.

"So it was you, Terriermon, I thought it might have been you but I wasn't sure." Renamon said, almost forgetting to apologise. "Sorry about that."

"It's ok, but what's going on. The last thing I remember was the whole castle crumbling around us, and then I blacked out. Something must have hit me on the back of the head. And why do my ears hurt so much?" Terriermon replied, trying too hard to reach the area of his body that was currently throbbing away.

Renamon did not answer his question, although she had an idea.

As much as he tried to reach it he couldn't seem to reach far enough. Terriermon's hands were handcuffed, and his feet manacled, and the chain that connected his feet together was further linked to the handcuffs by another length of chain.

"Where are we and why are we bound like this?" He asked shuffling closer to Renamon.

"I don't know," Renamon admitted; she couldn't quite figure out why they were still alive. _What must the ones who did this be thinking? _She thought. Renamon breathed deeply, trying to get her head straight.

"Have you seen any signs of the others?" Terrimon asked.

"No, not a signal clue," shook her head trying to clear it, "I was so occupied trying to fight my battle and protecting you, Terriermon."

"Protecting me?" Terriermon asked, not understanding.

"We had to split up, and since I'm the fastest of us the others decided it would be better if I protected you, until you woke up." Renamon stated.

"Since we ended up here, I guess speed does really count for nothing, huh?" Terriermon countered, give a little laugh.

Renamon realised that he was just lightening the mood, given the situation they were in, but she just glared at him in response.

Renamon felt angry with herself, and thought about how shameful it would be if everyone else had escaped and only they had been captured, and how she would not be able to live it down if it were found to be true.

They had been totally unprepared for what had happened, that they were taken completely by surprise, it was just insane. Her mind rolled back to what had happened.

The digital world was made up of several large layers of an indeterminable size, and was a mismatch of millions of lines of code that came together to form, more or less, odd recreations of this that might have been structures from the other world.

They were staying at one such place, ever since an earthquake had destroyed where they had been staying in Azulongmon's domain, one of the other Sovereigns had offered them a place to stay while the damage to Azulongmon's domain was being repaired.

The castle looked like something like those that might have been found in feudal Japan, but the stuff inside was decorated like a Chinese takeaway, complete with everything you would expect including all the utensils. Some Digimon, Guilmon included would consider the place heaven.

The town surrounding it was of a similarly unique layout. The castle sat in the middle, with a large grass plain stretching some one hundred and fifty meters from the castle walls, and then the city sat all the way around that. Some Digimon took advantage of the space at the rim of the castle's perimeter to set up a market selling foods and hand made tools, among other things.

The town itself had large variety of Digimon living and working in it. Digimon who worked to stay alive used trade, mainly services for services. The Sovereigns had decided that it was time to bring some kind of order to the Digital World. They had started with introducing currency, law and placing information boards throughout their world.

Things began to change, just like this town. It had not always been like this.

According to Azulongmon this town, like many of the places surrounding the Homes of the Sovereigns, were often treated with a mixture of awe and fear.

Digimon were equally split into two categories, those who were fighters and those who were not. The reasons for this were not entirely clear.

Those Digimon who were not fighters, seemed to show a benign disinterest in wanting to digivolve and could not understand why there were Digimon who wanted to fight. Fighting was only seen as a way of defending themselves.

At the same time, those who wanted to fight showed little interest in making things unless that absolutely needed to. They believed that their only existence was to fight and be absorbed, and looked down on any Digimon who did not think that way.

When it came to the Sovereigns, however, both types had the same feelings. Admire them while staying as far away from them as possible, thus until recently this town had been empty. It was an understanding that the Sovereigns were gods, and not to be trifled with. So there was no need to go any closer.

It had taken some effort to convince them otherwise. Now this place was full, once the non-fighting types had realised that they would be safe here, and the place had become a metropolis in a few short months. Renamon and her companions had seen the same thing happened in Azulongmon's domain. Digimon realising that they could be whatever they wanted to be. _Although there were exceptions, she thought and sighed._

The place wasn't so bad though, and had seemed peaceful enough. The castle was also at the heart of one of the new residential areas that the Sovereigns were building, in these areas fighting of any kind was prohibited to protect the inhabitants. They should have been safe.

We were safe; she corrected herself, and it had been peaceful until about one week after they had arrived. It had been a little bit after dawn that Renamon had awoken to the sound of many Digimon screaming.

Renamon had been the first to reach the window, and she could see that at least twenty Digimon were encircling the castle, killing anyone who got in their way. There were several different types she could identify by sight alone, and some she couldn't.

She had thought it strange at the time. It was not that unusual for a group Digimon who were of the same type to travel and fight together as a pack, but to see such a bizarrely wide range of types working together was unheard of.

It was also their behaviour that also struck Renamon as strange. It just seemed wrong somehow, this was a pretty large city, so why did they wait until they had reached the centre before causing trouble?

It didn't really make much sense, as Digimon did not usually think of things such as home turf, enemy territory, or the advantage of terrain. Anywhere would do for a battlefield to a battle hungry one, so why were they being so careful.

Renamon had noticed, the attackers seemed very interested in what their victims were, they seemed unwilling to destroy them unless they had had a good look at them. Are they looking for someone?

_That's ridiculous, it wasn't as though Digimon carried Identity cards or a drivers licence_, she thought getting nervous_. _Looking back, she should have known she was trying to tell herself that something was very wrong.

Soon enough any Digimon that had been near the castle's perimeter had been killed, although the odd one or two remained within sight, the attacking group no longer seemed concerned about them.

Renamon then spotted something she had not spotted at first. Each and every one of the attackers was wearing something on their heads, it look like some sort of headgear.

_What is going on here?_ _Are they receiving orders from someone?_ She asked herself, and something inside of her was unsettled by this turn of events; but she could not say why.

_I soon understood why! _She thought back, the memory clear. Suddenly one of the Digimon, below, had pointed up at her. "That's one of them!" She heard a big nasty Machine MetalTyrannomon shout, followed by a smaller chorus by two what looked to be Garuramon.

She only managed to think to herself, 'one of them', when suddenly everything went nuts. The whole place shook as the building was bombarded by heavy fire and everything seemed to happen at once.

The castle collapsing, Terriermon getting knocked out by a bit of falling debris, everyone was trying to make a run for it, in their own little groups. They had made plans for if anything happened, but they hadn't counted on this kind of opposition.

_Just our luck,_ Renamon had cursed. They were so far out numbered; she believed that even Rika would have thought it would be difficult. It would have been an easy battle if Rika and the other Tamer humans were here, but their human friends were currently a world away, so they had no choice but to do what they could.

Renamon tried to keep a track on what was going on with the others, but she had her hands full protecting the unconscious Terriermon, who was dangling by his ears in her left hand.

She saw only glimpses of the others. The teams they had originally formed for situations like this were slowly falling apart. They had counted on being able to outnumber any opposition they encountered, since it was rare to find more than three or four Digimon working together, let alone eight.

Right now though, eight of them would not be enough, they were out manned by a factor of nearly three to one. It was not just that that was worrying Renamon, dust from the castles collapse and smoke from some nearby buildings that had been set on fire, was hampering there co-ordination, she did not know about her friends, but it was almost impossible for her to work out what was happening.

A Single Flarerizamon ran toward Renamon out from a thick plume of smoke on her right, it's eyes glinting mercilessly through mere slits. 'Blaze Buster', it screamed and sent a barrage of flame flying toward her.

Renamon danced away, avoiding the fireballs with the grace of an acrobat. Her opponent moved just as swiftly, his fire covered body making him appear to move like a blur himself.

Renamon knew she would not get the opportunity to strike him with her Diamond Storm, so she would have to rely upon her techniques at hand-to-hand combatant.

The Flarerizamon attacked her from above this time, and despite the fact that she tried to dodge, she still felt his claws tear at her shoulder. There was a flash of pain and she threw herself away, aware that while the cut was minor, it was surrounded by burnt flesh. She blocked out the pain flowing from her right shoulder, so she could concentrate on what happened.

She should have remembered. That was the Flarerizamon's special skill, they could direct the heat of their bodies into their claws, and thus dealing greater damage than the claws would have inflicted on their own.

The technique she was about to use, would allow her to win, but she had to be careful. She was going to try to use 'Power Paw', an ability that allowed for the channelling of her MP to her hands and feet causing them to be engulfed in a powerful flame, which she hope would give her enough of an edge to win.

The problem lay in the reality that she was still carrying Terriermon in her hand, if she was not careful, she might risk killing him, but she dare not put him down in case some not so friendly adversary found him while she was distracted. She also knew that if she tried and failed she would be that much closer to exhaustion.

Her enemy attacked her for a third time, and she somehow managed to avoid it clean. She saw her opponent smile; he knew what she knew, if he could keep her on the run, the sooner she would run out of steam. It was only a matter of time.

Focusing her resolve, she closed her eyes; calling up her powers silently so she would not give the game away. "Power Paw," she whispered, and felt the power inside her take form as she heard something.

She performed a virtually perfect back somersault over the Flarerizamon, as it attempted to attack her from behind, she almost got away with it to. He had managed to rake the upper portion of her tail, almost causing her to lose control.

She swore that the Flarerizamon's next attack would be his last; she just needed to hold on a little longer. Her enemy moved to assault her from above once more.

"Raging Inferno!" He screamed as he fell towards her. She already knew what that technique was designed to do; it would surround the area in a ring of flame that he would limit her mobility. It was a small pity then that Renamon was more than happy to remain where she was.

A wave of heat washed over her, as she became surround by a firestorm, just as she had expected. Renamon had been hanging her head as though admitting defeat, then she felt the energy redirect itself away from her hands and into both her feet, she was finally ready.

Renamon threw her head back, and looked her foe directly in the eye. "Not today handsome." She said as though she was flirting with him, a radiant smile on her lips.

The Flarerizamon must have realised the situation had changed because his face betrayed a look of confused horror. He must have known that he had committed to an attack, where he was unable to change his trajectory.

Renamon leaped into the air, and turned her body once she got close enough, so that she brought her tip of her right foot crashing down onto her adversary's upper left arm. She felt her foot pass through his bones and knew she had severed his arm.

The flames that had spawn from his technique vanished at he retreated back through the wall of smoke.

Renamon felt rather exhilarated, having won her fight, and succeeded in keeping Terriermon out of harms way. The dust was beginning to clear up a bit.

She could just about make out Cyberdramon wrestling on her left with, what looked like two Garurumon, she still couldn't see clearly enough. He seemed to be holding his own.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a bright flash, and the Ultimate Digimon fell backwards, growling out in pain. He then hit the ground and did not move to get up.

Renamon felt her elation at being in battle again, crumbled to dust.

_What could take down an Ultimate? _Renamon asked herself.

Renamon knew it wasn't impossible for a high level Digimon to be defeat by one or more lower level opponents; she had done the same thing with her champions when she was only at the rookie stage, although she had Rika's help back then, but to think that Cyberdramon could go down like that seemed so unreal to her.

Renamon suddenly realised that she could no longer hear any other sounds of battle.

The dust cleared more, she saw with her own eyes what she already knew in her heart. Guilmon was being held against the floor; she had never seen ones like them before, so she could not identify them. Guilmon himself was still struggling, but his captors were smiling, confidant that he could not escape their grasp. They had already managed to muzzle him.

The others were scattered around in various states of exhaustion, and some were injured. Impmon was nursing an ankle in his hand, from the way he held it, he might just have broken it. Marineangemon was trapped inside some kind of container.

Guardromon was being carried, on the shoulders of a Cyclonemon, it's huge clawed right hand holding him in place. She saw no sign of Lopmon at all; with any luck she had the smart enough to escape before this point, Renamon did not want to contemplate any other possibility than that.

"We got them, My Lord," One of the larger Digimon said into a microphone in his headset. There seemed to be some kind of response coming through the earphones, but Renamon could not hear what was said.

"You," the largest Digimon pointed to a lone Kabuterimon, "summon the Mekanorimon outside the city, our Lord wants his new toys delivered as soon as possible. To the desert, and to our Master, with them."

The Kabuterimon moved quickly out of sight.

'_To our Master_,' that Digimon had said, so they were all needed alive. The actions of this team of warriors became clearer now. Whomever this 'Master' was wanted them alive, so they had ended all those innocent lives because they were ordered to bring Renamon and her friends to the one they reported to. They were like an army.

They also killed anyone near the castle so they could make sure that they did not accidentally lose their prey in such a congested place. If all those who weren't their targets were dead, they would easily be found. It was a crude, but effective strategy.

Renamon realised that she had to escape and try to find a way to save the others later. _But first I have to find a place to hide_, She started thinking, not knowing it was futile.

As she turned begin her flight, she was struck in the back. She only felt pain for a moment. Renamon assumed she had only been grazed, but as soon as she tried to move her body; it simply would not obey. She discovered after a moments struggling, that she could no longer feel her legs or tail.

She began to feel numbness spreading into her arms, and her vision and hearing began to fail. Unable to keep her balance, she toppled over and landed hard.

She found it hard to turn her head to view the Digimon who came to stand next to her immobile body. It was an Angemon; he was holding in his hands a long metal weapon of some kind. The weapon appeared to be equipped with some kind of scope.

Renamon may not have seen an Angemon in a long time, but she could tell his weapon was not something that should exist in the Digital World. He looked down at her with an evil grin on his lips, "How did you like my little toy, darling? Not so tough with a little paralysing agent in you, huh?"

Renamon's body finally gave up fighting what had been done to it; before she finally lost consciousness she felt someone clamping something around her neck.

"That was the last thing I remember, before waking up here and knocking you out of bed." She told Terriermon.

"So, you think Lopmon got away?" Terriermon asked her.

"I said I didn't see him, but we can hope so," She replied optimistically, "I think we should start planning to get out off here…"

Renamon stilled herself, as they saw a Digimon passing the cell door; it was a Greymon who was pulling along a very black looking Digimon, that was so messed up you could not guess what it 'might have' been. It's arms looked like they had been burned off, and it's legs were no longer there.

It did not look as though it was still alive.

"Before we all end up like that!" Renamon finished letting her meaning go unsaid. She only just realised that what she had heard before was no the wind, but whoever that had been, screaming for his life.

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Yamaki threw himself fully dressed on top of the couch in Riley's apartment; he was exhausted.

It was hard to believe that he had actually planned to have some relaxation time over the last few days. Instead he ended up spending half his time on the phone and the other half running from one side of the city to the other.

It was surprising how hard it had been to organise so many things on his own and it was going to cost him a fortune. He never really, fully, grasped how much work he had expected his former subordinates to work.

Yamaki no longer had the resources of Hypnos to support him, so he was forced to hire help from wherever he could find it, or call in favours from people he knew in his former employment, like Hirokkei. He felt lucky that he lived in Japan where there were always people awake and willing to do any job that they came across, no matter the hour.

He sat up and began to undress himself, trying to be as quite as he could. Riley was out tonight, with some girlfriends of hers, but he shouldn't get too used to that being the case.

This was, after all, 'her' apartment and not 'their' apartment; he wasn't that much different from a free loader anyway. He had to learn to keep it down.

He was tired and wanted sleep, but at the same time he wanted to keep awake and alert, so he could not help but to make himself a coffee. Riley would often remind him that he couldn't have both; so if he was stuck, then he should just pick whichever action served him best at the time, rather than the one that was in favour of his work. She had always been like that, and that was the bedrock of their relationship. He knew she would have scolded him if she knew.

He sat down, coffee in hand, and let his mind wonder. He had so little time to just sit, that the memory seemed to float like a dream.

Yamaki often compared Hypnos to other jobs in his own unique way. He saw it as it really was; sort of like suddenly being asked to run a marathon everyday when you were only used to running in a 100-meter dash. In others words; periods of rest were shorter, less reliable and there was little time to be distracted by anything else.

If the job had not been so intensive, and had not been required so much of his time, he would have made fewer and less explosive mistakes. His biggest problem was that the longer he spent working on a difficult problem the more obsessed he became with fixing it. His solutions would also become more complex and far reaching, simply because he was allowing them to get on his nerves.

He had been working for a few weeks; things were not working out at all and he was getting frustrated. The staff might have found him a little intimidating. Things got so bad that the whole place was practically grinding to a halt every time he started brooding. Eventually the staff just stopped coming to him.

Yamaki remembered that he had been sat near the vending machine, drinking canned coffee and contemplating the problems encountered while searching for hackers based across a sixth phased system, when this woman just sat down next to him. He didn't even know her name.

_I really didn't pay any real attention back then did I_? Yamaki scolded himself.

She just sat down, and started asking questions. Her long dark hair hung over her shoulder, and her dark eyes staring straight at him. _More like through me!_ He admitted; he had been quite shocked by her actions and did not understand what she was playing at.

"Do you have any hobbies?" she asked, smiling at him, even though he looked like he was going to spit nails.

"Hobbies? Why do you want to know?" He asked suspiciously, wanting to know what she was up to, given the fact he was obviously busy thinking.

"No reason, you just look like you needed to talk," she replied, and proceeded to answer her question, herself. "I like swimming." She then just got up and walked off, leaving him none the wiser.

He just sat there drinking coffee for the next few minutes with a serious look on his face, and it took someone from the main offices to tap him on the shoulder to remind him to return to work.

On one hand he felt suspicious, and on the other, he felt quite refreshed for no reason he could discern. His mind wondering back to her every few seconds. No sooner had he started back to the problem at hand, that he suddenly realised he was thinking of her again.

He couldn't see any real way that she could be using the conversation for any particular purpose; she wasn't really getting anything out of it. Yamaki thought that she might just be making conversation for conversations sake, or maybe she was hitting on him.

Women were like that, trying to get attention from someone they liked, not that Yamaki would reciprocate, as he did not think such things should happen in the workplace. He was very strict about staff flirting in working hours.

The next few days passed by with the same routine. He had once walked off around the ground to find that she was beside him. He would have thought she would have left him alone when he did this, but she just got up and walked beside him, not saying a thing. He ended up watching her as they walked instead of thinking the problems he had through. When he got back to the office, the solution to his problem hit him.

Even though he had been slightly disturbed by it at first, he allowed it became a regular thing. Allowing her to just sit next to him and talk about things that had nothing to do with work or to wonder the grounds.

As long as it did not affect his work, he was fine with it; in fact, he actually started looking forward to it.

He had never linked the woman to anyone he knew at work. It really was a mystery to him; one that he decided to work out for himself. Yamaki never liked using the simple methods when it came to problem solving, so why restrict himself now.

He could have just followed her back to wherever it was that she came from, or just looked for her picture in the staff records, but he deplored such things as not being half as fun. He thought of just asking her, but it was not his way. _As long as I continue to do my job it should be all right,_ he reasoned.

The day after he made this resolution, he waited for his break to come and sat down next to the vending machine and bought a can coffee as usual. She came and got a drink herself.

"What are you drinking today?" She raised her eyebrow, at his question. It was that usual for him to ask a question of her first. Today he had decided to record in his own mind as many details as he could about her.

"A black coffee," she responded, "I don't really care for anything else." Her voice seemed to have a natural lint to it, that encouraged a person to speak more openly and he almost wanted to ask her straight out whom she was; he restrained himself.

Her voice was quite soft, he noted. She wore the same clothes as the rest of the other female staff, but hers was really well cared for, which he did find interesting.

It suggested that she had pride in her work, mainly because although there were significant signs of wear, it did not have a single mark that could have been caused by carelessness however.

This suggested to him that she was duty driven. He still did not know what department of Hypnos she belonged to. So he decided to start his inquires with a more direct approach. "Work a lot?"

"I work most of the day. If you're asking me my hours, you could almost say they were all over the place at times." She answered; seemingly taken out by the new direction their 'relationship' was taking. It almost seemed like she was playing the same evasion game he was, never giving more away than was necessary.

"Interesting," Yamaki said, preparing to change subject again." What do you think of your boss?"

She chuckled, which seemed to overflow into a little laughing fit. He was afraid that she would start choking or something so he went to get up and pat her on the back, but before he could do anything, she had managed to stop herself.

"He's a quite strict, he doesn't really like the people who work for him to be absent while he is, but as long as we return to our posts before he comes back, everything usually turns out alright. He's a little intimidating to tell you the truth." She said, and Yamaki could sense utmost sincerity from the woman.

Yamaki was the head of the heads of staff inside Hypnos, so he saw knew who was in charge of what in the others departments, of which their were twelve. He knew that only four of those departments had females at the top of hierarchy.

That meant that she worked in one of the departments that were headed by a male. _Four down, eight to go_, he added to himself.

She suddenly glanced at her watch. "Sorry, I've work to do." She got up and disappeared through the foyer doors.

A few days later, Yamaki continued his investigation.

She sat down as usual and ordered something different from the vending machine that day, a can of green tea.

"Thought you didn't like anything other than coffee?" He asked politely. She replied that she liked a change once in a while, and that it kept things interesting, smiling. She looked a little tired, as though she hadn't slept that night; he was aware that he had also had to pull an all night shift; some departments had had too.

That point became another line of reasoning to him. It sparked his curiosity, but before he got too excited he had to make certain that he was right.

"Pulled a night shift?" He asked feigning slight interest.

She put her head to one side as though considering what her best response would be, after a minute or so she answered, "you too?"

They way she said it made him think. _So the department she works in must pull night shifts often enough for her to be cynical about them!_ He could have simply checked up on what departments had been working late last night, it would not have been so hard to do, but he was having too much fun at the moment to take the 'easy way out' as he called it.

Yamaki used his brains though; he knew that two of the remaining eight departments were sealed up every night by security and were never required to work at night. _Six departments remaining_, he smiled inwardly. He was closing in. He would have chuckled but he only did this when he knew the other staff were not looking.

He continued to narrow it down to the department she worked in, using the same system. Ask a specific question and get the answer and cross the other ones off the list.

It was then he noticed a small symbol on the left arm of the suit she wore. Only a few departments had that. Day by day he kept closing in. Their time together would sometimes be very short and he wouldn't even have time to ask anything specific. He also found the 'game' fun and so limited he questions to one every three days. This left the other times free to discuss whatever they wanted. He also hoped she would not realise what he was doing by doing this.

With only three remaining, he could feel the game coming to an end, but at least he would have the satisfaction of knowing that he had been providing himself with sport, and no one would be any the wiser.

She had come and sat down next to him and bought her usual can of black coffee, and he asked, if she had come across any departmental problems, while taking a sip of his own drink, as though her answer would have no real meaning to him.

"There was a little problem with the computers, but nothing serious." She answered candidly.

Yamaki sat quite stunned, as it was the first time that he had received an answer that he had not expected, or understood. He had been expecting a completely different reply, that she would have evaded the question, or not answered at all. He did not say anything more for a few minutes.

The woman had become quite uncomfortable with the situation and shuffled a little before saying goodbye, excusing herself, and throwing her half finished drink into the crash can opposite. He just nodded and then shook his head, as though he was trying to clear it of something irksome that had gotten inside his skull. Yamaki wondered at her response.

Yamaki knew exactly what had been going on in the two departments he suspected; one was currently undergoing discipline after it was discovered that some of their logs showed inaccuracies, and the other was running smoothly. There had been no reported problems with their software.

The only department that was suffering with computer problems was the System Core Operations Department or S.C.O.D for short. Yamaki's very own Department.

He was angry, and he knew very well why. He prided himself on knowing the name, and voice, of everyone who worked directly below him. Yamaki often travelled outside of the Hypnos complex, on jobs. He had never heard that woman's voice on the end of the phone, when he had had to call his office.

Yamaki knew that he did not know every single man and woman who worked in Hypnos, but he knew his own department. He decided that the 'game' was over and it was time to get the whole business over with.

She did not reappear for a few days and when she finally did, he let her drink her coffee; then he asked her directly.

"What did you say your name was again?" He pretended that this was just another of their normal conversation.

"Riley, Sir," She answered.

"Your not Riley, you and she sound nothing a like." Yamaki said emotionlessly.

"I am Riley, you can check my file." The woman had responded coldly.

"Can I really?" He asked sceptically.

"If you have any doubts!" She shouted over her shoulder as she collected another can of black coffee, holding it tightly in one hand.

"If you are Riley, why do you sound so different?" He asked, wanting to understand why she had just started talking to him out of the blue six months earlier?

"Because above everything else, you are my boss and I am your employee, and my job is to make your job easier to handle. The job comes before anything else." She stormed off.

Her voice vibrated off the walls inside his head. When she had said that, he knew she was telling the truth, she had responded with Riley's voice.

He remembered the first thing she had said to him when he had been introduced to her, the day he had started working at Hypnos. She seemed to look different back then, or was it now, then the realised she wore her hair differently and when he had been introduced she had had the customary goggles that he was used to. Now she was out of the high chair, she looked very different. Her hair, which was normally pinned back at the sides, was now left to fall over her face a little. She quite obviously had a different tone for the situations she was in, a 'work' voice, and her 'normal' voice. He almost couldn't believe he hadn't recognised her, but then he never thought of anyone having a private life.

His mind skipped a little, back to the first time he saw her.

She was in the chair that she always occupied during working hours, beside Tally, that was mounted on hydraulic arms. She and her fellow operators had been up there testing the stability of the system, so were understandably too busy to comer down for the normal 'interviews' new employers normally used to get to know their staff.

Yamaki had not had time and told them to work. He had not been bothered by not interviewing them. He knew their credentials inside out, so he had simply asked them a few questions when he had had the time. He asked them both the same thing. How did they end up in the job and why did they want it.

Tally had been really straightforward; She simply told him that she had been recommended for the job, and had accepted the job because she felt that there was nowhere better to go. It had been a normal enough answer.

Riley had been more mysterious. She simply replied, "I found out about the job through some friends of mine and had asked for the transfer herself. When she has been told she had the credentials they were looking for, she accept job wholeheartedly," she had added, "I took this job knowing that it wouldn't be easy. I wanted to see if I could keep a promise, to the best of my abilities."

At that time Yamaki had not needed to see her face properly, he had accepted at that time that faces would be meaningless in this word of wire anyway. He knew they would never see the true faces of their employers, so why should his employees be any different. As long as he knew what they were capable of and what their voice sounded like, he knew the job would get done.

Yamaki had to admit that her answer puzzled him, so at that time he asked her, "What promise?"

"The promise that I will always put the job first." She had replied truthfully; he had not really understood what exactly she had meant.

Yamaki's mind floated back to his original thoughts of the argument. Over the next few days she stopped coming to the vending machines. Riley continued doing her job in the same way she always did, but she no longer tried to talk to him during breaks. After a week or so, he actually began to miss their little chats.

Yamaki tried to work out the meaning behind her actions; perhaps there was some ulterior motive that he could not see. Was she up to something sinister? Finally, it got to him, and he decided to track her down at the end of shift that day and solve the mystery. He had idea where he could find her.

He had been right of course. There were only three places you could relax in the whole building.

There was a cafeteria, positioned just below where the structure split in half, forming into the two towers that was the distinctive characteristic of the Hypnos facility. The other two were the small rest rooms with their vending machines. One of the smaller rooms on the ground floor with had an outside and inside area, so smokers could go outside, and the other on was on the 15th floor. Since Riley liked black coffee, and he knew how caffeine affected people, he knew she would have to drink some sooner or later. Going to one of these should lead him to her.

Yamaki decided to stake out the bottom floor, as soon as his shift was over, so he would get there first. Riley was avoiding him, and therefore she avoided the 15th floor, where he would usually be at this time of day.

She showed up, about a few minutes after he had gotten there himself. Yamaki realised that if he wanted some answers, he was going to have to be more diplomatic.

He cleared his throat and she turned around, surprised to see him there. "Sorry about before, I was out of line." Yamaki apologised. Riley was a hard worker, and he had wronged her when she had not done anything to deserve it.

"I had guessed what you were doing; I should have just introduced myself when I had the chance," she said sympathetically, "I know you hate to lose. I know you weren't angry at me, but at yourself, for missing something like that." Riley added.

"That's true." Yamaki admitted. "Why didn't you just mention who you were?" Yamaki asked, because he did not understand her at all.

"I didn't want you to think I was after something. I thought maybe if I told you who I was, it would ruin our working relationship; the truth is, I don't trust people easily."

"Your beginning to sound like me, Riley." Yamaki laughed, trying to clear the air. He was sure that there was more too it than she was telling, but he didn't press her.

"Why did you start talking to me?" Finally getting to raise the point that had been bugging him the whole time.

"I can't answer that; don't you remember that I promised to always put my job first?" her reply came with a warm smile.

"What has that got to do with this?" Yamaki commented, not sure what she was trying to say.

"Basically, I wouldn't have much of a job if my employer kept spacing out on us every time he hit a problem that gave him a hard time." He nodded understanding what she meant.

Yamaki had been chosen to be the heart of this operation because he understood how all this technology worked, and how to get the best results from it. The staff knew how to work their equipment but relied on him to give them instructions.

If Yamaki was not focusing on the whole picture, and kept himself fixated on trying to solve one thing at a time, that whole system would fall into disorder.

He saw the whole pattern now. Riley had been helping him, by making sure he remained sufficiently distracted, so that he would not dwell on the problems during his breaks. Breaks, which were dictated by Yamaki himself, usually whenever he met a problem he was having a hard time fixing.

A change of topic was probably the best thing, so whenever he was stuck she would provide one. It was so obvious; Yamaki turned towards her intending to ask her who had put her up to it. When she gave him a most extraordinary answer.

"I volunteered myself from the task to helping you do your job, so I can do mine," She gave him another dashing smiled.

"Sorry, I got to get back on duty." With that, she walked out the door.

Yamaki was left laughing.

When Yamaki thought back on it like that, he found it hard to believe that their 'business only' relationship had developed the way it had. His and Riley's colleagues were shocked to find out that they were actually a couple.

_A lot has happened in three years_, Yamaki added.

Yamaki finally decided that it would be best to heed Riley's advice, and made the decision to get what sleep he could, while he could. _Typical_, he thought, as the phone began to ring, and he forced himself to answer.

"Yamaki here." He answered.

"Yamaki, I found it!" Hirokkei shouted down the line. He could only assume he was refer to the matter they had disgusted earlier that week.

"The portal," Yamaki chuckled, knowing full well that Hirokkei must have been joking there was no way he ever showed skills in systems analysis, "when did you learn to do that?"

"I didn't." The man on the other end of the phone answered truthfully.

"What?" Yamaki asked confused.

"I'm not joking Yamaki, I know where it is!" Hirokkei's volume had increased; he was deadly serious.

"How the did you find it then?" Yamaki said, returning to his more level tones, a little lower maybe and for a moment he thought that Hirokkei hadn't heard him.

Hirokkei gave Yamaki the details. Unfortunately Hirokkei had only given Yamaki the 'good news'.

"And you just stumbled onto their 'secrete meeting', what luck." Yamaki smiled at his fortunes, and laughed.

"There is something else, Sir, and your not going to like it." Hirokkei added, Yamaki swore that he had never heard such deadly a voice coming from his old friend, almost as though he was bracing himself for something.

Yamaki didn't like the tone one bit. "Ok, what is it?"

"What? Tomorrow morning…" Once he had heard the full story, Yamaki almost slammed to phone down.

_Some days I don't know if my luck is supposed to be a blessing or just plain torture_, Yamaki spoke beneath his breath, not meaning Hirokkei to hear.

"What was that Yamaki?" Hirokkei asked, with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Nothing, it's all right," Yamaki breathed in deeply, "okay, this is what I want to you to do for me." Hirokkei listened as his old friend to do him some favours, and he was more than happy to help.

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**Three days earlier.**

Lopmon had run when Guilmon had told her too, he said that he couldn't guarantee her safety, and that it would be better if someone could escape and try to get help.

She hadn't made it far before encountering trouble, so she had darted under an overturned wagon. She was close enough to hear where they were intending to take Guilmon and the others. The Desert was a pretty big area, but at least that gave her a starting point for when she finally got round to looking for them.

A number of questions flashed before her mind, which worried her.

- The desert, why would they be going there since so much of it was a wasteland?

-Who was thing Master who was commanding them?

-What did this Master want with Guilmon and the others?

Lopmon stored the questions in back of her mind, and decided to see if she could get further away from here, as it looked as though the attackers were going to make one last quick sweep before leaving. She guessed that they knew they had missed one of their targets.

Lopmon had narrowly avoided discovery the first time, and did not fancy hanging around, as her hiding place just couldn't stand up to closer inspection. It would only require one blast to leave her dead or vulnerable to capture.

She noticed that her pursuers had their back to her hiding spot, so she ran as fast as she could for another piece of cover that she thought might be safer. It was the burned out shell of some poor soul's home.

It was across the road, and there was a partly destroy market stall between the wagon and the building, that she could hide behind if she needed to. The two Digimon who were searching around, were currently looking at a piece of metal that was sticking out from under the rubble in front of them.

Lopmon seized her chance, and ran for it. _I can make it,_ she told herself forcefully. She was halfway the stall, which was positioned at the middle point of the road, when she felt her foot come into contact with something slippery. The stall she had bet her life and freedom on, had belonged to a melon merchant.

She quickly put it all together. A melon must have fallen from the stall and had been smashed during the earlier confusion of the attack. It was spread across the floor in a layer thin enough for her not too have seen it, yet thick enough to make her unsteady.

It was very sticky and limited her movements as she skidded along. Lopmon was unable to stop herself, and fell. As she fell, she collided into an undamaged melon that was laid on the floor in front of her, sending it bouncing along the ground.

Without warning, two metallic hands wrapped themselves around her middle, and she dare not make a sound in case she drew unwanted attention, so she let them reel her in. Within moments she found herself stood next to a Datamon, they were often known as shrewd businessmen, and providers or couriers of information.

His arms repositioned, one remained wrapped around her middle and the other slid over her mouth.

"Watch." The small waste paper basket sized Digimon said. The Datamon pointed at something that was hanging from the stalls almost collapsed roof that she hadn't noticed.

Almost as though in slow motion, the melon rolled into the stall, and suddenly a ringing noise could be heard. It was a wind chime, but at the moment there was no wind at all.

"What was that?" The larger of the two searchers asked. They turned around, and seconds later, they had reduced the stall to burning ash. Lopmon gulped.

"Someone's round here." The smaller of the two, a Gabumon, said to his partner who was a Mamemon.

Suddenly there was another loud bang that came from somewhere up the street. "Must be running that way. Must be the prize, lets go." The Gabumon shout again, as he took off up the street, followed closely by the Mamemon.

"That was close. You have to learn to be more careful." The Datamon said, his hands still firmly gripping over Lopmon's mouth. Lopmon figured that the Datamon was scared that they might be seen, as the two enemies returned.

"She has to be around here somewhere; but I don't think we need bother, this place was a waste of our MP anyway," the Gabumon said, sneering, obviously bored now that the fighting was over, "those Digimon who were guarding the place were barely worth my time."

"But won't Master be upset that she got away?"

"He won't miss one insignificant Digimon and we got the rest; he should be more than satisfied. Sometimes I think he's an idiot." The Gabumon scoffed.

A loud noise that was like metal scrapping against metal filled the air. Lopmon had not heard such a horrible sound in her life. The ground also shook as though responding to that terrible noise. She did not know what was causing it; she only hoped it didn't mean that things were going to get more dangerous than they already were.

The two Digimon before of them put their hands to their headsets, covering their ears. "Our rides here." The Gabumon said and both he and the Mamemon set off.

An hour later, the Datamon finally let go of Lopmon. She walked ached after standing for so long in one position, and stepped into the sunlight. Other Digimon began to come out of places they had concealed themselves in. They surveyed the damage to their homes and places of work, with horrified looks.

Lopmon could understand; they had been brought to this place, under the understanding that they would be protected but instead, for a lot of them, it had morphed from home to tomb.

_Not that dead Digimon usually left enough remains to be buried, _she commented bitterly.

Lopmon looked around as her saviour dusted himself off. The whole place was a complete mess; it was unbelievable. Pieces of the castle where she and the others had spent some happy times were scattered all over the place.

She looked around her for a sign that any of companions had also hidden away, but from how that Gabumon had spoken, she already doubted that anyone else had made it.

She had to find them if she could, but first she had to find someone who could help her. If she moved fast she might have been able to pursue her friends captors. It looked as though many of the Digimon, who could fly, had either been injured or killed in the initial attack.

She came up with a sudden flash of inspiration; something had caught her attention. A wheel, attached and suspended between two long cylindrical metal tubes, with a headlamp at the top. She remembered that it was something that Impmon had been building; he called it a bike.

She had always been wary of it, but she had seen it moving about on it's own, at times. Impmon had said that he hadn't completed it yet, but Lopmon figured that it was the best option. She had noticed that its headlight was on; she knew that that meant it was awake.

_That's something,_ she thought.

She hoped if she could free it, she would be able to convince it to help her.

Lopmon spoke over her shoulder, as she heard the Datamon approaching from behind her. "Thank for saving me, Datamon. I owe you my life already, but could I trouble you one more time, I want to go and save-", out of the blue, something plastered itself over her nose and mouth.

She struggled, but it was no use, her body went completely limp. An object of some kind was clipped to her ear.

"Sorry about that," the Datamon bragged, "but you owe me your life, so until you pay me back with something of equal value, you will be working for me. You're going to attract quite a bit of money for me in the arena." He gloated knowing full well she couldn't respond. Her eyes staring blankly into space, some Digimon possessed their own secret techniques to inflict paralysis and pain.

"I can't wait to get home. You're going to love Server seven. See you on the other side." He laughed cruelly.

The Datamon tired Lopmon up, and holstered her into a cage that was just big enough for her to fit inside, then vanished. Datamon were, couriers and information traders for a reason, because they could teleport over large distances.

He had woken up at the right time, although he had missed the main battle. If he had been upright, he could have done something. The bike knew it was hopeless to try anything, just yet. He did not want to be left like this, just because he scared the locals, so he would conserve energy and think up a plan.

He had been knocked for six by the castle's implosion, and trapped for the better part of two days, but at least he had a lead on Master's friend, and perhaps through her he would find his Master to.

He would normally be able to sense his Master, but right now he couldn't sense Master's power, so he didn't know where his Master was.

When was freed, he fired himself up. The bike had spent two days thinking about what he would do next, he could have gone after the rabbit like one, but without a rider of sufficient calibre, he would not get very far.

So he decided that he would have to go to the Sovereigns that his Master had held in his memories, and seek their help, as they were the most powerful beings in this world. He could sense their strength even from this distance; not the strength of a rider, but a great power none the less.

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Yamaki and Janyu Wong had talked about it and decided that it was best if they waited for the children to get together and then ambush them. They were hidden in the bushes, along with several people he had hired in case of a situation like this.

He and Janyu had taken a look at the data that Hirokkei had delivered to him during the night. The portal might have seemed safe enough, but the data said otherwise, even Yamaki admitted that the entrance was stable, but a more detailed examination suggested that there was a blockage of some kind inside.

The chances were that they might have become trapped somewhere between the digital and real world's, who knows what would have happened then.

The portal was his main concern, as it was so very dangerous; Yamaki didn't want to think that someone might accidentally stumble upon it, in the time it would take him to get the situation resolved. Xanadu was still in a state of lockdown, only when that ended would he be able to get the barrier back to normal.

He still hadn't discovered why it was constantly destabilizing like it was, but he could worry about that later.

"Are you sure that the children didn't get to the portal before you sealed it up?" Janyu asked, concerned that something had gone wrong; the kids were late for their 'secrete rendezvous'.

"I'm sure, no ones been near the thing all night, it was the first thing I dealt with." Yamaki tried to reassure Mr Wong.

Yamaki had gotten some of the men he had hired to stand guard at either end of the tunnels to make sure people kept out of them, it was actually quite expensive to have people guard it day and night.

Thankfully they shouldn't have to keep it up every long; hopefully in a day or so, he would be able to affect a more permanent solution. Yamaki admitted that he was a little worried himself, but those children were; well, still children, so they weren't always as punctual as one who expect an adult with responsibilities to be.

They would just have to wait.

The children finally arrived all at once, they were carrying all sort of bag packs and things.

"Ok, is everyone ready?" Takato nodded to the group.

"You bet!" Kazu and Kenta chanted together.

"Then it's off we go." Takato was the first to step forward.

Yamaki moved out from cover, followed by Janyu. It was best to get things over with.

"I'm sorry, but your going to have to put you're little trip on hold." Yamaki moved to head Henry off; if he needed to convince someone it would be him. Henry had showed that he could be argumentative if he thought he was right; which made him dangerously unpredictable.

Yamaki repositioned his glasses on his face. He chose to go for Henry's throat, figuratively speaking. "Henry, I have the data right here. Take a look." He pulled a floppy disk out of his jacket pocket and a man carrying a laptop came out from behind a tree behind him.

Mr Wong looked surprised. I hadn't noticed him there, he mumbled to himself.

"As you were there when I built the barrier, you'll know better than anyone, what these readings mean. If you really think it's safe then take a look at the data yourself. It's time stamped and has an authentication code attached, there's no way I could fake it." Yamaki gave the disk to the man carrying the laptop, who slotted it in, passed the laptop to him and Yamaki carried it to Henry.

Yamaki thought the other Tamer children stood in shocked silence, they would be thinking that after all their hard work; it looked at though everything would fall apart after all.

It seemed to only take the boy a few minutes to accept the truth; the portal would never have had been stable enough to take them to the Digital world. That his portal had been a death trap the moment it formed. The boy looked rather ashamed. Yamaki guessed he was disturbed by his own inability to see it; the boy's expression hardened.

Henry stared at Yamaki with contempt. Yamaki knew what he'd be thinking that the whole situation was partly his fault anyway.

Yamaki saw Henry shake himself; now reality would be sinking in. He would acknowledge that Yamaki had just done what was right, where Henry was just being selfish. Looking for anyway without checking the true facts.

"Yamaki, I…" Henry started, looking solemn.

It was all rather incredibly frightening and happened without warning. A vortex opened above the park, almost as though a super tornado had decided to form and had confined itself completely to Shinjuku Park.

The strange thing was that the sky had been relatively clear a moment before. Yamaki could not understand it, until he caught a glimpse through the cloudbank; the sky had been ripped open.

The effect was far more contained than the last time he had seen such a thing, but it was definitely the same as what had appeared over Hypnos headquarters more than a year ago.

A huge golden funnel of mist descended towards the ground. It engulfed everything, within a twenty-meter radius of the whirlwinds centre; and the mist was so thick that Yamaki couldn't see a foot in front of him.

After a minute, the whole thing retreated into the sky and vanished as though it was never there. Yamaki had a bad feeling about this; he looked around.

Yamaki wondered what on Earth had happened. As the fog cleared, he immediately realised the children and gone. _But to where? _He looked around but could not see them. They would not have gotten far enough to not be spotted running in the distance. _What in the world has happened?_ He wanted that answer and badly!

"Is everyone all right?" Yamaki shouted. Mr Wrong was pulling himself up, as was several of the men Yamaki had hired.

"We're okay. How about you?" One of them asked. "And what was all that about?"

"I'm glad you're all fine," Yamaki smiled briefly, "but do you remember when I warned you that I would be unable to explain if you happened to have a strange encounter."

"Yeah?" The man had asked curiously.

"Consider this one of them. You guys can go home now and you will be paid, double the standard rate. If anyone asks, you helped a rich old lady across a busy road." They all nodded and left.

"Yamaki. What happened to Henry and the others?" Janyu Wong enquired once he caught his breath, but he was clearly agitated at the disappearance of his son.

"The children are gone. I know for a fact it only something extremely powerful could have opened that gate. I just hope that whoever was responsible is friendly, but regardless we won't find out anything standing around here." Yamaki stated.

Yamaki began to run, Mr Wong running along behind him. "Come on, we have to get as far away from here as we can, I doubt that those fools at Xanadu could have missed that."

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Takato felt his feet land on something and he opened his eyes. He could see that he was standing underneath a massive archway. He found himself staring down a corridor that was in front of him.

It was so long that he could not see the end of it. The walls were painted in a blue colour, with the purest white clouds he had ever seen painted on top of that, and hanging down from brackets on the walls were baskets that contained combinations of exotic wild flowers. The floors were covered in green, blue and silver tiles, set down an amazing mosaic.

"Hey. Guys, were do you think we are? This place is beautiful?" Takato commented.

"Takato, I would turn around if I were you?" Henry said; his voice was shaking.

"Why?" Takato asked, but he did not really require an answer.

Once he had turned around he realised that he had obviously materialised facing the wrong way. He was left speechless. The room that now filled his senses was gigantic and perfectly circular; it carried the beauty that he had seen in the corridor to a completely different level, but that was not all.

The room was dominated by four enormous chairs; each in a different colour on it, red, blue, green and black. In the very centre of the room was a golden throne, and there was a golden Digimon sat upon it.

Takato had never known such a Digimon existed. A golden dragon with shimmering scales, with six crimson eyes and surrounded by several red orbs. It had four large horns on two on the head and the two on the mid point of the back. It possessed four legs; each had ending with three clawed. Its tail was swishing around the back of its chair.

"Welcome Humans, the Digital World needs your help." The Digimon spoke in a beautiful voice that sounded like that of a young woman. She spoke sorrowfully.

"But I am afraid that I have some bad news."

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To be continued…

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P.S. ok, sorry about how late this chapter is; it just kept growing in size. Well, I hope that you enjoy it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter: 5

Chapter 5 – A timely arrival?

Takato swallowed hard and found it absolutely impossible to speak. Whether this was due to the chill that was running down his spine, or the way he felt the temperature of the room drop, was debatable. He suddenly found himself unable to continue and glaring to the mysterious dragon's eyes.

He saw more than felt the wave of concern passed through his companions, but Takato shook head trying to clear it of his own fears. _Bad news can mean a variety of things_, he reasoned trying to remain untroubled.

"Please sit," the dragon gestured with one golden scalded claw, towards a dozen small wooden chairs positioned in a semicircular arc about a meter or so across from her. She had clearly been expecting them. _She might have been the one who brought us here, _Takato considered the possibility.

He felt uneasy and noticed that the others were similarly hesitant about making a move. Takato knew that each of his friends had a nightmare scenario that was unique to them and they were probably reliving them in their heads. Takato had to admit that he could not help but feel a little flustered, if nothing else.

Takato glanced at the dragon again. She did not seem too concerned at their lack of progress. He steeled himself for whatever she had to say and began to walk across the room. The others soon followed.

They were all rather surprised to find that one of the seats was occupied. They all recognised her, but it was Henry who reacted first. "Suzie?"

Her hair was slightly longer than when he had last seen her, and she was dressed in what looked like a school uniform. A white t-shirt with a black and white checked skirt, which was complemented by knee length white socks and a pair of black shoes.

"Hi, big brother, are you alright?" Suzie replied to her brother's yell, with a smile.

When Henry next spoke he was clearly not happy. Takato knew that he had planned on leaving Suzie behind and had made the decision for good reasons. He clearly thought that it was his right to make that choice, but now someone had taken that away from him.

"Henry what's the matter?" Suzie asked seeing her brother's face change and she looked slightly scared.

"I didn't want my sister to end up here again; this had better be important!" Henry practically shouted at the dragon. He stared into her deep red eyes and did not break eye contact, as he sat down next to Suzie.

Takato took his seat as well, but he noticed that both Rika and Ryo remained standing. They both seemed remarkably calm, until he noticed that Rika was tapping her foot and Ryo was playing with his left hand.

"I apologise for any inconvenience that I have placed upon you, however I felt that it would be best if everyone who was involved was present," She said as her tail swished around behind her impatiently or perhaps even angrily.

_What is her problem?_ Takato wondered what was wrong as she really did look like she was feeling sorry for something. Suddenly something clicked within his own mind; she had said that the Digital World was in some kind of trouble and that it needed their help.

They had gone to such lengths to bring humans here, and Tamers at that, so why wasn't Guilmon and his friends here? Takato took a quick glance around the room and saw three other large doors.

_Could their Digimon companions be hiding behind one of them?_ Takato asked himself.

Takato had always checked his digivice regularly, but recently he had become reluctant in examining it. He felt like he would have known if something bad had happened; he tightened his grip on the machine in his pocket.

"I am sorry," the dragon stared at them with such sincerity that it hurt, "your friends have passed away."

There was no kind of response for several moments.

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Impmon could only remembered little bits and pieces of what had happened. He did not know what had happened directly after the attack as he had passed out. Once he was awake he was presently surprised by the fact that he was still alive.

He woke up to find himself strapped down to a large metal table, inside some kind of caged room. It was too dark to see beyond the cell door, so he could not be entirely sure about were he was exactly, but he got the distinct impression that he was underground.

He had been wondering if he was alone, until he heard a familiar voice. "Are you awake Impmon?" It was Guilmon all right. Impmon looked around, but despite his usually excellent vision he could not see the Dinosaur Digimon.

"How did you know it was me?" Impmon asked since the illumination may not have been as bad in the cell as it was outside, but it was still having problems making anything out.

"I can smell you." Guilmon cried happily even though Impmon himself was not too sure that he liked the idea, as he was quite proud of his personal hygiene. Guilmon was the type who hated being on his own, so being able to recognise that he wasn't alone, even if it was by smell was probably comforting.

"So what's your story, you tied up too?" Impmon tried to move his arms, but the straps bit into his hands.

"Yeah and I have no idea how, and I can't feel my hands or tail." Guilmon seemed to be finding it hard to speak. Impmon noticed his voice seemed to be slightly muffled and he seemed to be struggling to speak properly. They did not get long to chat.

The lights suddenly flicked into being in the corridor beyond the metal bars, and there were the unmistakeable sound footsteps coming their way. Impmon glanced worriedly in the direction from which Guilmon's voice was coming, just at the same moment the tiny room was illuminated.

Guilmon looked awful. He was chained vertically to a pole that had been bolted to the floor; his feet were attached to it via four metallic chains that could have been made of lead.

His clawed hands were bounded by some kind of wire that was so tight it had torn the skin. He had been muzzled. He was handcuffed and the chain connecting his hands together had been wrapped around his tail, which probably explained his inability to feel that appendage.

It was also apparent that Guilmon was wired up to some sort of machine that was stood in corner. It was just a box on wheels and did not seem to have any kind display panel, or any visible buttons on it. A set of wires ran from the back of the appliance and up the wall, which was next to it, and then disappeared into what looked like ventilation duct.

_What were these guys doing to him?_ Impmon thought and suddenly came to a very unsettling conclusion. _What are they going to do with me when my turn comes?_

The cell door slammed open and a Mekanorimon entered the room. They were something of an enigma. They appeared to lack any kind of self-awareness or the ability to think for themselves; usually piloted by smaller Digimon species, or allowed to operate solo when given simple instructions. This one had no driver meaning that whoever had sent it had not expected trouble.

It began to untie the bonds holding Impmon down. Impmon had known that he would only get a moment to escape. The moment he was freed he rolled himself off the table, and prepared to run as fast as he could, but he did not get far. The moment his foot hit the ground he was howling in pain and collapsed onto all fours.

He would not be getting a second chance as the Machine Digimon picked him up and held him so tightly that he could barely move. He found himself praying that he was not going to end up as bad off as Guilmon.

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The silence was broken by Suzie's cry, as tears began to spill down her face. The rest of the tamers were in various states of shock. Takato found himself pulling his digivice out of his pocket and took a look at the screen.

He was horrified by what he was seeing. It screen was fuzzy and overrun with static, and it was defiantly the same phenomenon that had happened to Jeri's digivice when Leomon had been killed. Takato's knees buckled and clutched it tightly.

Everyone's Digivice was showing the exact same thing. It appeared as though after all their hard work; their prayers and dreams had gone unanswered.

"If you wish I can leave you alone-"

Henry knew that this state of affairs was completely unfair and that he would not be able to accept that they were gone until he had all the facts.

"No!" Henry stood up before making a visible effort to straighten himself out.

"All I want is to know what lead up to this? Do you know the circumstances?" Henry asked; his eyes pleading with the dragon to tell him what had happened to his friend.

"I am truly sorry, but it will take a while to explain everything which has happened up till now." She seemed to shift herself into a more comfortable position on her golden throne. "Perhaps it would be best if I first introduce myself. I am Fanglongmon and I am one of the Sovereigns."

Everyone tried there best to pick themselves up. Takato felt that the atmosphere had radically changed. What should have been a celebration had turned into a wake. Henry was not the only one who wanted some answers.

Henry was struggling not to break out into tears, even while his sister was desperately trying to stop hers by wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

"I thought there were only four Sovereigns?" Ryo asked, looking as though he did not quite believe what he had been told, despite the fact that he had the evidence of his own eyes and his digivice.

"There are only four Sovereigns in actuality, and I am their creation. I was originally created as a final attempt to eliminate the Digimon's enemy; the entity you know as D-Reaper."

"That was a long time ago and for the record, I wasn't that successful," She grinned at them.

Henry noted that there was a circular platform built into the ground around her throne, that was far too big to simple be there to support the throne itself. He looked up and saw a similar construct above the throne as well. She also emitted an energy he had never felt in the presence of anything else before.

He pushed away his own feelings and concentrated on what he was sensing, as it just seemed as though something was not right. He noticed that Fanglongmon was absentmindedly rubbing at something one her left paw, which seemed to be fading in and out of existence.

"You're not really here are you?" Henry asked wondering what exactly was going on with the reptilian Digimon.

"You are correct, young man." She clapped her hands indicating a correct answer. Almost please that he had worked it out.

Henry frowned trying to get his head around what was being implied. He struggled for a moment to think what this meant. "A hologram?"

Fanglongmon gave him another round of applause and gave a quick explanation. "My real body was irrecoverably damaged and in order to save my life my body was placed into stasis." She did not seem to be disturbed, probably because it happened a long time ago.

"The others found a way to separate my consciousness from my body, which gave me freedom of the mind if not of my body." She continued on. "I act as a consultant in times when the council is unable to reach an agreement on a suitable course of action in times of need." She said.

"It was such a situation that it has lead to me becoming involved. The Sovereigns are the guardians of this world and sometimes they get caught in their own sensibilities."

"I think I understand why you are so upset about your friends. They had asked if it would be possible to return to your world, but the Sovereigns decided that for now it was best if the digital world disappeared from human sight." The Tamers listened intently as she described the situation.

"I don't think they made the right decision, especially taking current events into consideration." Fanglongmon added as her own footnote before continuing.

"The Digital world had seemed to have overcome a tragedy that almost destroyed it, and the Sovereigns decided this was the opportunity they had been waiting for. They could finally clean house."

"Clean house? It almost sounds as though they wanted to redecorate, or have a spring clean." Kenta tried to joke and it was obvious that he was trying to forget for a moment, that his friend was no longer waiting for him like he should have been.

"That was exactly there intention. They wanted to civilise the Digital World and create a ordered society."

"Sounds like a mistake." Ryo jumped in and he had some kind of look in his eyes, which meant he had spotted something.

"Well as you know the creatures that inhabit the Digital World can be described in three words. Those words are hostile, peaceful or mysterious. They can be called as one, the other or a combination of all three." Fanglongmon leaned forwards. "This is especially true of the Digimon."

"I'm guessing the sovereigns had problems." Ryo said again.

"Bingo, Mr Akiyama,"She gave a short laugh and nodded.

"Huh? You know who I am? Most people just call me Ryo," Ryo exclaimed.

"I always try to know as much about the people I am dealing with as possible, besides I like to do my research," the dragon said trying to lighten their mood just a little. Ryo gave her a small smile. She resumed with what she had been saying.

"Everything seemed to be going the way the Sovereigns had planned. They wanted to create rules and order. They built city where hundreds of Digimon could live in peace, but not all Digimon want that."

"It's just like you said Fanglongmon. A lot of Digimon are aggressive and seek conflict because that is how they view themselves. Cyberdramon was the same." Ryo couldn't help the words that spilled from him. He knew it was the truth of the matter and almost couldn't believe they had even tried, with what he knew of Digimon and their ways.

"Renamon too." Rika added sadly.

"The easiest solution seemed to be to banish troublemakers to the most inhospitable places in the digital world. The outcasts fought among themselves. They became known as 'Wild Ones'." Fanglongmon explained. She turned as Ryo sighed.

"The Sovereigns were willing to overlook the situation because it was to be expected that Digimon who chose to break the rules would fight each other. It was believed that they would simply destroy each other."

"The population of the Digital world is always increasing." Fanglongmon said.

"Increasing how?" Kazu asked not really expecting an answer.

"They come from the other side," Henry pitched in.

"Huh?" Kazu seemed confused.

"Digimon that exist in the real world often cross into the digital plain. They enter the Digital World and disappear." Henry interpreted having realised that Kazu did not have a clue what Henry was talking about.

"Digimon of the same type gather together and formed communities, while rarer types were being destroyed!" Ryo realised where this was going.

"The types that were the most common were becoming pack hunters." Fanglongmon finished.

"But even if that were true then only the strongest would survive, but they would go looking for trouble elsewhere eventually." Ryo was trying to reason his way through this. He knew that some Digimon were certainly more dangerous than others.

"So they began attacking cities and towns that existed on the edge of the exclusion zones. The Sovereigns created more Exalted Beast Digimon to attempt to bring the situation under control." He paused. "Devas?"

"Devas only serve Zhuqiaomon. There are other names for those who serve the other Sovereigns, but that is essentially correct. Things had already progressed to beyond that level of control however." She dragon smiled lightly.

"Are you trying to tell me that Renamon and the others were killed by a handful of rampaging Digimon, come on," Rika shouted. She seemed angrier at the insinuation than at the thought of Renamon's death, "Guilmon I could understand, but Renamon and Cyberdramon as well?"

"The situation has become considerably worse because we had been unable to attend to it. A recent phenomenon has caused the Sovereigns a lot of stress." Fanglongmon noticed that Rika was not impressed by her explanation of events and she sighed.

"The truth is no-one may ever know what actually happened to your friends. I am sorry and you have my deepest condolences." The dragon said sorrowfully.

"Come on!" Rika was livid and practically screamed at the female Digimon. "You tell us you know what happened and then you tell us you don't have a clue?"

"I am sorry." Fanglongmon apologised again. "What I mean, is that all we know for sure is that there was an attack at the castle your friends were staying at, and that afterwards they were nowhere to be found."

"But why would anyone attack Renamon and the others?" Henry asked.

"We assumed that it might have been because they had been to the real world. It is rumoured that if you absorb the data from a Digimon who has been there you can go there. I am sorry but that is as much as we know at this point." Fanglongmon answered truthfully again.

"That again!" Rika muttered. She was angry that things had turned out so badly. So many Digimon had appeared in the real world and she was doubted that any of them had absorbed the data of a Digimon that had crossed over.

"I did not summon you to tell you this and I am sorry that I have only bad news, and our own selfishness to offer." The dragon said. She hung her head.

Fanglongmon seemed to be doing nothing but apologising and none of what had happened was her fault, so Henry decided to give her an olive branch. He spoke softly so she would understand that he was trying to stay calm despite the circumstances. "Then why did you bring us here?"

"The Digital world is both shrinking and being torn apart." Fanglongmon said with a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"What does than mean?" Ryo asked, not comprehending what she could have been referring to. The Digital World is massive and he thought the idea sounded preposterous.

Henry sat down trying to digest the situation. He kept thinking about Terriermon so he was finding it hard to concentrate.

"It is hard to explain. Almost nine months ago the Sovereigns lost contact with a settlement they had established at the furthest edge of Azulongmon's domain, a gleaming city about three miles across. They investigated naturally, and when they arrived, they found nothing." Fanglongmon stated bitterly.

"Are you sure that something else did not destroy the settlement, another attack by these 'wild ones'?" Ryo asked.

"You don't understand…when I asked they found nothing… I mean absolutely nothing. Well, they did find something."

Henry leaned forward on his chair. "What did you find?"

"A great big black hole, where a mountain range should have been. For a moment we thought that the D-reaper might not have been destroyed after all."

Henry slid back into his chair and looked around at his fellow Tamers who were equally confused.

"We checked it out and it was not the work of anything remotely like the D-reaper. We had never encountered something like this. A week later we lost contact with three other cities and they had all met with the same fate."

"Were there are common links between the towns." Ryo and Henry said together, almost at the same time.

"There have always been areas of the digital world that have been, for all intensive purposes, a void. Think of them as ditches at the edge of a field where things go in and here come out." Fanglongmon faded out of existence for a moment before reappearing. _Sorry about that_, she said under her breath.

"We call the areas that are voids 'the edge of the world'. The only connection that all the towns that were hit, had in common; was that they were at positions near the edge of our world." She sat a little straighter.

Fanglongmon seemed to have recovered some of the composure she had when they had first come through the door and carried on. "We discovered from observation that the edge was increasing in size. It was growing at an unpredictable rate, and could suddenly expand without warning."

"Hence why you managed to lose three of your cites without warning." Rika said haughtily.

"The Sovereigns decided to create a barrier that ran along the edge to stop it from growing. We managed to slow the growth, but ultimately the plan failed. We have calculated that the Digital World has seven years at most." Fanglongmon said analytically.

"Isn't there a way for you to figure out what's causing it?" Henry asked thinking that the Digimon would have known the most about the Digital world since they lived there.

"We've run out of avenues. The Sovereigns held a vote to send an expedition to the Real world. To cut a long story short, Zhuqiaomon wanted to dispatch another squad of his Devas to the real world to investigate. Azulongmon was against it and he thought that it was wrong to drag humans into there affairs again. It was a deadlock"

Henry rubbed his hands down his face. He did not like were this conversation was heading.

"I thought that Zhaqiamon had merit, but I told him that sending his Devas would be a waste of time and effort. I thought that you might do a better job of it than a bunch of over the top zealots would. So here you are."

"I know that you may not be in the best frame of mind to decide if you want to or not, but please consider it." Fanglongmon asked while bowing deeply.

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The beeping was becoming far too much of a distraction for him, so he threw the kill switch causing the device to return to it's standby mode.

It was not unusual for him to be interrupted in the middle of his work. 'Work' wasn't really the term for it, and perhaps 'fun' was more appropriate. Although most of the Digimon he employed did not understand his apparent joy in doing something other than fighting.

_Each to his own_, he remembered rebuking his guards. He had said to them that he could find brawlers like themselves anywhere.

He had cursed at the time and acknowledged that it was geniuses and those who had vision who were hardest types to find. There were a few here and there, but you were often forced to create those people yourself.

Reptilus brought his attention back to the beeping console. The panel in front of him was normally covered with thirty numbered and permanently illuminated buttons, with a number beneath each. However right now one was blinking.

He flipped the switch and spoke into a small microphone built into the panel.

"What is it Grime?" He sneered into the microphone hoping to scare the Digimon on the other end to get to whatever point he wanted to make as fast as he could.

Reptilus admitted that he found the idea of names and their function in human society compelling. He found most of it rather mundane, but what really intrigued him were the little things that came along with them. He particularly enjoyed the idea that if you knew a person's full name, then you would gain you a certain amount of power over them.

_Never give your full name to a witch_, he chuckled.

It seemed appropriate that he would create a ridged hierarchy, where only Digimon who would be leading others would be given a name. The idea being that he would have the most power over those who reported to him, because it was he who named them, made him chuckle.

The name Grime was more of a reflection of the position the Digimon was in rather than an actual name. The ones who guarded this facility would never see daylight again, and would forever be covered in the filthy dust that forever hung in the air. Grime seemed fitting.

"Sir, I err… we found one of the guards unconscious… and the prisoners appear to be missing." He choked out and Reptilus could hear the underlying sound of a hoof grazing the ground, and knew that his lieutenant was nervously awaiting judgement.

He placed as much disgust into his voice as he could as he replied to his subordinate's pitiful excuse for a report. "You know how much I hate being disappointed Grime?"

There was a moment of pause. "I don't know what to say about that… sir"

Reptilus growled deep in his throat. "You might start by telling me how this happened and what measures you are taking to rectify the situation."

Grime went on to explain what had happened. One of his subordinates had been performing a regular patrol of the complex and checking the cells, but a room that was supposed to be occupied seemed to be empty.

The guard who was a rookie was understandably surprised by this turn of events. The guard had the unfortunate misjudgement however, to open the door and take a look. The prisoners proceeded to attack and incapacitate their opponent, and fled.

The sentry managed to trigger the alarm before being felled. One of the prisoners had been recaptured almost immediately. He then explained that his master had nothing to worry about, and that the other one would soon be caught, as they were already tracking its position.

Reptilus listened to the excuses calmly and rationally, but he cut though the story with straight logic. Reptilus proceeded to give Grime a dressing down. He explained to his servant that clearly several key rules had been broken, which had lead to this incident.

Firstly the guard had been left to attend his duties alone, where Reptilus had ordered that they were to travel in packs of two or more when he had guests. Subsequently he had acted without consultation, and had thus failed to inform his commander of the possible breach in security.

"We are so lucky that the Sentry was able to activate the alarm system, are we not Grime?" Reptilus said slyly, reminding the security officer that he had not been the first Digimon to serve in that position.

He would be reminded that he had better ensure he recovered from this quickly to ensure his own continued survival. _Had he heard?_ Reptilus wondered.

"Yes, My Lord we were very lucky," he spoke softly obviously understanding he had just been chastised.

"Which cell was it that was broken out of?" Reptilus asked thinking that it was curious that Grime had not mentioned, which prisoners had attempted a getaway.

"A7." He answered tentatively as though he did not wish to make a final decision.

"The Digimon who is still on the run is the Renamon?"

"Yes." Grime seemed be speaking cautiously again. It did not bode well, but he decided to let his follower of the hook for now. After a long silence, Grime spoke again.

"I will report as soon as we have apprehended the subject," he rushed probably hoping to end the interview before his 'master' changed his mind.

"Excellent and before you go, I want you to bring her to me as soon as she is restrained." Reptilus said before dismissing his underling.

Once the line had gone dead, he could free a little at ease.

"Why didn't you tell him about the other one?" Grime's assistant asked, his voice high-pitched and perhaps revealing that he was disturbed by the situation.

Grime was a Karatenmon. It had a humanoid form with blue birds wings on its back and also possessed the head, hands and feet of a bird-like digimon. It stood roughly two and a half meters tall, although it was rumoured that this digimon had conquered a metal discipline that allowed him to mass shift. He had not seen this ability for himself so he was rather sceptical.

He had sort out Grime's master because he wanted to gain a sword that was more suited to his fighting style. Grime's master had agreed and asked if the swordsman was willing to pay for the new weapon with a period of servitude. He had obviously accepted the terms because a few days later the bird had reported for guard duty.

"We will report that as soon as there is something to report," the Centarumon replied grimly. They had found it relatively easy to recapture the Terriermon, and despite her natural speed the Renamon would so be recovered as well.

The Renamon was clearly dangerous, and Grime had dared not report to his master that she had stolen his guards' security card.

It should not have been so easy to trace a Digimon with those kinds of abilities, though. Grime did not believe that she intended to be captured easily, but she seemed to be methodically searching every level for something and this had confounded him.

Digimon were notoriously uncooperative when it came to working with those outside there own species.

It was due to this that he ended in this situation. A fight had broken out among the guards the previous evening, resulting the deletion of a number of his personnel. He had no reserves and therefore a number of patrols had been sent out undermanned.

This meant that Grime had been forced to send out that ShadowToyAgumon alone. He had taken its fighting power into account, but not it's brainpower. He returned his attention to the matter at hand.

The only reason that the Renamon would be searching like this was if it were searching for its comrades. Once he had realised this he ordered those who were not actively engaged in the pursuit to examine the condition of the other captives.

Grime felt his digital matter slump depressingly inside him. One of the other prisoners was also missing. What was even more depressing was the fact that there was no trace of where it had gone.

"I want you to join the chase Karatenmon and put your skills to use." The ninja like Digimon had already vanished from sight before even a second had gone by. The only hint that he had even been here was the rapid opening, and closing of the automatic door that lead into this office.

_I should have sent him sooner_, he reflected. Karatenmon were known to be intelligent and brutal combatants, with a mastery of multiple skill types.

The Centarumon hoped that his boss would not call for any other captives to be brought to him for a while. He called his guards again and asked for another status report.

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"Is it ok if we talk about it among ourselves, in private?" Henry asked.

"Of course," the Dragon said and vanished from view.

Henry turned his back on to Fanglongmon. He felt emotionally exhausted and he had already surprised himself by not braking down and crying the moment he broke eye contact.

"What do we do now?" Rika covered her eyes with her hand. Henry was surprised that she had not asked Fanglongmon if she could leave. They were all sharing the same symptoms of emotional burnout, but he felt that she was going to be hit hard.

_She'll probably deny it_, Henry knew her well enough to know that.

"I guess we should contact Yamaki and tell him we're alright." Takato volunteered the idea. He looked dreadful.

The holographic chamber was a hive of activity once more as the Fanglongmon's form re-emerged. The Tamers turned to her in shock, as they had not expected her to return so quickly.

"Something is approaching this place at high speed." Fanglongmon shouted and her form swirled within its seat. The image that appeared in her place was something that the Tamers were surprised to be seeing again.

They all recognised it at the same time. Henry was confused because as far as he was aware, that thing had been destroyed over a year ago and he muttered, "Beelzemon's bike?"

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Renamon was still managing to evade capture. She had no idea how long she had been running for, but she knew she had lost the advantage she had started with.

She was now positive that this place was underground, as there were ventilation shafts everywhere. It was a pity that her form was so large, if she had been smaller it might have been advantageous to attempt to escape through them. She reasoned that they would eventually lead to somewhere with access to large amounts of open air.

It had been easier to escape than she had first thought it would have been. Terriermon may not have been able move a great deal, but he could still walk. Thankfully the guards probably did not realise, that while they had completely incapacitated her, the same was not true of him.

Terriermon only required the ability to change the direction he was facing, and the freedom to open his mouth. Renamon sometimes wished that she could find a gag big enough for him, but not today.

He used his bunny blast attack to shatter Renamon's restraints, although he had been a little overzealous almost blowing her arm off. In return Renamon made light work of the chains that had bound his arms and legs.

The cell door was a far harder problem to deal with. It refused to give even an inch, and seemed to deflect any energy sent towards it. The only material that Renamon knew of that with that inherent ability was Digizoid armour. There was no time to consider how it had been constructed, so they decided to have someone to open it for them.

They had noticed that the door's lock had a vertical slot built into it. It looked similar to the card readers on their tamers digivices. She had guessed it was a security key card.

Renamon had access to a power that allowed her to manipulate digital energy that existed in the environment, which enabled her to make herself invisible to everyone or to particular individuals. It was particularly useful when she was following Rika around in the real world. The only problem with it was that it required a lot of concentration to use it.

She made herself and Terriermon invisible, and waited. They managed to lure a guard in, but things did not go as well as they had hoped. The ShadowToyAgumon was taken by surprise, but obviously not surprised enough. It managed to destroy an alarm box of some kind, which started the sirens to wailing.

Renamon had not allowed this to cloud her judgement. She took the opportunity to take custody of the key card and his headset. She figured that they could make some use of them.

She had come to understand some of what the enemy over the headphones were saying. In the beginning she had found it incomprehensible. What they were saying was quite confusing, but she soon came to the conclusion that they were reporting each other's positions by using code words and numbers.

They were hard to make out unless you knew what you were looking for, but each of the tunnels had small steal plates bolted to the floor. She had almost tripped over one while she was scouting out a new corridor she had found.

Once she realised, the headset became an invaluable tool. It gave her the edge she needed to avoid the enemy patrols, which seemed to be becoming more and more organised. Even with all she knew now, the shear immensity to this place was beginning to trouble her.

She was beginning to understand that where she and the others had been taken was more than just a hideout, but a base of operations for something much larger. It was guarded by much more than a simple gang of unruly Digimon.

It had built in security systems that were beyond what normal Digimon would build. She discovered that there were cameras everywhere; she had even begun to suspect that there might be other hidden devices.

Renamon had underestimated the size of this place at first. It had been her idea for Terriermon and her to separate and go there separate ways. She had reasoned that the more ground they covered the quicker they could find their friends. It seemed an impossible dream right now.

So far she had only found and released MarineAngemon. This place just kept getting bigger. It played on her mind if she had made the right decision.

She had already travelled through over a dozen different passageways and tunnels. The whole place seemed very unstructured and would have confused her if it were not for her own exceptional memory. There were areas that seemed as though they had originally been natural caves, while others looked as though they had been artificially created.

The size of this underground place was not the only thing that made her raise an eyebrow. The larger rooms were full of all kinds of unusual equipment. She had seen several that contained assembly lines, which appeared to be producing items similar to the weapon that that Angemon before had used.

In other locations there were items being produced that she didn't recognise. Those that she could identify were things such as body armour and several types of bladed weapons. Some seemed to be meant to be wielded by hand, while others were to be affixed to various parts of the body.

Renamon had heard about the fact that certain types of Digimon preferred to fight using only the strength that could be mustered with muscles. She had not believed that to be true until now. With so many items that you had to use strength to wield by hand, she wondered just what kind of Digimon these were.

Some Digimon evolved with weapons as parts of their bodies, with her own staff in Ultimate and Mega being a perfect example. Why the need for making the extra armour?

Renamon felt like giving herself a good hard slap. It was hardly the best time to be thinking about such things. She needed to focus of her own safety and explore as much of this facility as possible. Even if she were caught again she would be satisfied, but only if she could find one clear route of escape then this might be proven to have been worth it.

She knew that it was probably only a matter of time before she would be recaptured.

There had been quite a ruckus a while ago. Terriermon had put up a fight but it appeared as though they had already recaptured him. They were gradually closing in.

Renamon had realised that the situation was unlikely to get any better, but she was determined not to let 'them' get the better of her.

She came to the conclusion that the only way to breakout from this maze, was to gain some help from the outside. She had decided to make gamble.

She chose to give the headset and key card she had stolen to MarineAngemon. They would not be of much more help to her anyway. Renamon found a nearby Ventilation shaft and pulled it open.

She told him to try to stay hidden and try to get out if he could. He gave her an odd look and her one of those little calls he usually did. She hoped that he was telling her he understood.

Renamon had continued to stalk around afterward, hoping to keep her pursuers focused on her. She knew she had been spotted a couple of times and had been lucky enough to get away.

She came across another new place and felt a burst of elation, it seemed she had stumbled upon another cellblock. She had come across three others before, but only one had been occupied.

There was a new sound coming to her now. The sound of someone's horse breathing as though, whoever it was, was suffering great discomfort. She sighed with some sense of relief. The rest of the corridor seemed deserted.

She broke into a trot and approached the cell where the sounds were coming from, and she flipped the light switch on the wall next to her. What she saw almost made her sick.

It was Guilmon wrapped it a series of horrifying restraints that cut sharply into areas of his skin, causing awful red marks and bleeding. He had been gagged and mutilated.

_What purpose was there is such a thing? _She asked herself in horror and despairing in the fact that she was unable to do anything about it.

"Guilmon, I promise I will get you out of there somehow," She told him not to sure how she was going to achieve the feat. She would not have the change though.

"How nice to meet you, my dear." The voice she heard came from over her shoulder, but not only that it came from the direction she had just come from. She did not get a chance to turn around as a heavy object was brought down onto the base of her skull.

_Why do people keep getting the drop on me?_ She silently screamed and the blackness claimed her senses and she collapsed.

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The bike entered the room through the largest set of double doors, across the room from the gang. The doors sealed with a heavy thud as they closed tightly again.

The Motorcycle looked almost the same as the last time they had seen it.

It was almost completely black. There were sections of it that appeared to be steel and cooper coloured, specifically the exhaust pipes, wheels and lower bodywork. The seat and handlebars as well as a hazard symbol on the front wheel, were rusty red. There was also an area near the handlebars, which was bright red almost as though the bike was wearing freaky sunglasses.

It began driving around the room with its engine roaring. It was almost like a caged animal telling them that they had better figure out what it wanted them to know, so it could be set free again as quickly as possible.

The bike's progress was being to affect Takato's balance. He had allowed himself to become dizzy to such an extent, that he had to shake his head around a little to be rid of it. It suddenly drove through the group of humans.

They stepped aside as to let it past when it suddenly cut its engine. It continued to coast until it drew alongside Rika and stopped.

The others stepped aside and wondered at the bikes condition, but when Rika tried to move it cleanly restarted its engine and followed her movements.

"Looks like you have a fan," Kenta commented.

"I'd say you finally found yourself a boyfriend," Kazu added and gave a high five to Kenta who had immediately begun laughing his head off.

Rika's head spun around so fast that her head should have been ripped clean off, simply by the speed of the sudden movement. She gave them both a heated glare that would have melted butter. Rika returned her attention to the bike.

Takato was not sure what exactly it was, but he defiantly felt something coming from the metal monstrosity. It was not the menacing feeling he had sensed from before, but it was clear it was being aggressive.

Aggression wasn't really the right word to describe it, as it felt more like an intense feeling of urgency. Takato had no idea how it was that the bike still existed, but it seemed to want to communicate something.

"Do you think it wants something from you?" Henry asked Rika.

"Do I look like I would have any idea what it would want?" Rika responded as she kept trying to get away from the mad machine.

"I have an idea," Takato decided to go with his gut and see where it lead.

Everyone looked him curiously; especially Rika who looked as though she was sure that she was not going to like what she was about to hear.

"I think it wants you to get on," Takato said and pointed to the seat.

"Are you insane? I'm not getting on that thing, especially considering it can control a Digimon's mind and I don't want to image what it might do to mine," Rika spat at him.

"But why would it want Rika to get on?" Henry mused.

"Well, I assume that he must be looking for a new master now that Impmon's gone." Takato said mournfully.

"A master?" Suzie asked curiously starting to calm down now that she had cried a little more.

"Beelzemon seemed to be the only one capable of riding that thing, without getting controlled by it," Henry explained.

"So it thinks Rika is worthy to be it's new master? It couldn't have found a better candidate, the one person who is as cranky as it is!" Kazu jibed.

"Very funny moron!" Rika yelled at him. It took both Takato and Henry to hold her back. It was understandable that she was so short fused.

"If Rika isn't brave enough then I am willing to try," Kazu said as he walked towards the wheeled machine, with an air of smugness about him.

The Motorcycle must have been offended. It restarted its engine and roared loudly, spinning its back wheel furiously. It moved forwards rapidly towards him and Kazu was force to fall back. He threw up his arms defensively.

"Ok, I won't insult you anymore!" Kazu shouted. The bike must have accepted his word as it stopped revving.

"I think we should just see what happens, the worse case scenario is that Rika is going to end up with a concussion," Takato joked despite the fact that he still was not feeling his best. Rika gave him a scowl.

"I don't think that it would hurt you." Takato said.

"I think Takato's right," Henry added.

"Henry!" Rika shrieked and looked at him with distain and showing absolutely no love for this plan. Henry knew that she might have been feeling down, but not enough to consent to this. Not easily anyway.

"Rika you can trust us." Henry pleaded with the redhead. Rika looked sceptical.

"Henry I trust you, but I just don't trust it." Rika replied eyeing the bike with suspicion. No one else was speaking and it was almost as though they were the only two people in the room.

"It looks like you're the only one it trusts," Henry said giving Rika a broad smile and stepping closer to Rika.

"I promise that you'll only be on that bike as long as you need to." Henry added, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Besides, how will we know what it wants to show you if you don't give it a try?"

"Ok, you win." Rika said finally giving in.

Rika moved back over to the wooden chairs and the Motorcycle followed her like an obedient dog. It was too tall for her to mount without a leg up, so she took one of the wooden chairs and used it to give her the required height.

She sat on the bike and for a moment she seemed to be perfectly herself, but it did not remain that way for long. She became completely ridged and her eyes closed. In a few short seconds her eyes snapped open and they were shining a sickening red, which as pretty much how Guilmon's had been when he had been possessed.

It was Rika who looked around the room, but they could all tell that it was the bike that was in control. It looked at each of them in turn.

_It was quite spooky if you think about it_, Henry thought.

He had not known what would have happened if someone got on it, but he felt the same way as Takato. Something was different about that motorcycle and they were not going to find out what it was if they did not take a risk.

"Hello." The voice that spoke was still Rika's, but it had a far deeper tone to it.

"Hello…. is Rika still in there." Henry asked

"If you mean is this child is alright, then yes," the Rika who was clearly not Rika responded.

Henry looked to Takato. He hadn't expected it to talk like this.

"Why did you choose Rika to ride you?" Henry was trying to figure out what was really going on. The last thing he wanted was to lose another one of his friends, especially since it was his idea for her to get on the metallic menace.

"I am not looking for a new master, I simply needed her." It said in reply.

Henry's curiosity got the better of him. "Why her?"

"She has the strength of a master." The bike said with pleasure in its voice.

"Oh she really has the same temperament as you?" Kazu asked slyly, jabbing at Rika while she would not be able to respond. The bike clearly did not like it.

"She was right, you really are a moron." The bike stated blankly, turning Rika's head away from him.

_Really, since the bike is controlling Rika now, should I be thinking 'it's head'_, Henry wondered.

"Like I need to be told that by a homicidal bicycle," Kazu responded was a barb of its own. He turned away from it as though he were ignoring it and shrugged.

"I have a name you know!" The bike raised its voice and it's back wheel span against the floor causing a thick cloud of smoke to rise from its exhaust.

"Then what is it?" Kazu shouted turning himself back towards the motorcycle.

He spoke calmly this time and brought his engine to a standstill. "Yes, it would be best to introduce myself, I am called Behemoth."

"Behemoth?" Henry asked, as he ran the name though his head. He was sure he had heard that name before.

"Yes," came the prompt response and it did not seem bothered by Henry's questioning.

"I think I remember reading an article about something called that." Henry muttered for a moment trying to remember.

"An article about what Henry?" Takato asked looking perplexed.

_Does Henry know something about Behemoth?_ Takato wondered, but he had no clue as to what Henry was talking about.

"A few years back the American government wanted to test the idea of creating vehicles that could drive themselves. They made up a competition and allowed teams from all over the world to compete."

"Like remote controlled cars and stuff." Kenta seemed to having a hard time believing that such a thing had happened.

"Well something like that, but that doesn't really matter right now." Henry said absentmindedly.

"Then why bring it up?" Takato asked, but he was beginning to put two and two together.

Henry gave them a brief explanation. "One of the groups thought that out of all ground vehicles, a motorcycle was the most manoeuvrable and they believed that they would surely win if they could pull it off. An A.I. controlled bike proved to be a bit too much and they dropped out. The failed prototype A.I. was called Behemoth."

"Ah so your saying that that behemoth and this behemoth are you same?" Ryo said and gestured towards the bike. Henry nodded.

"Well I don't really care about where it originally came from, but I don't get how it still exists, I mean… weren't you supposedly killed by Gallantmon?" Ryo asked as he had heard about this machine, but had never actually seen it before.

"I can not be killed or destroyed in the way you imagine." The bike answered simply.

"How so?" Ryo and Henry asked at the same time. They both seemed to enjoy a good mystery.

"I can only be destroyed if all of my main components are destroyed. My individual components were spread over a large area, but none of my parts were destroyed and were simply scattered." Behemoth did not seem to mind giving away such details.

"So if your parts were scattered, then how did you get like this?" Ryo moved his hands in a circular motion as to indicate its seemingly perfect condition.

"Master collected most of my parts and reunited them." He answered.

"Beelzemon?" Henry asked.

"Yes, but he was in a different form." Behemoth simply responded.

"Impmon?" Henry muttered as it fit that Impmon had enjoyed its companionship. He returned his attention to Behemoth because he found a fascinating being. He wanted to see if he could get inside its head because now that it was talking to them, it appeared to be rather friendly.

"I still want to know though, why Rika as apposed to anyone else?" Henry was actually quite interested in this kind of thing. He wanted to know why Rika was chosen.

"She has a strong will that cannot be broken. She allowed me to take possession of her body, but that in itself is not enough if I wish to communicate."

"Communicate?" Ryo inquired. He had heard about what it had done and it was just weird that it possessed such intelligence, but yet had acted so barbarically.

"When I take possession of a rider's mind I can control them, unfortunately they become puppets and lose more complex abilities such as speech." The bike explained.

"So the stronger the psyche the better, huh?" Ryo said offhand.

He reared up onto his rear wheel, which was most likely, its equivalent to a nod.

"Who did you want to communicate with and why?" Henry asked still interested in Behemoth's motive for coming here.

"The Sovereigns are the most powerful beings in this world, so I came to ask for their help." It turned its front wheel slightly as if pointing behind it.

"What help do you require?" Fanglongmon asked and the humans jumped as they had honestly forgotten she was still standing there.

"I want to get some help as there are some things that I cannot do, even if I have a rider. " The bike admitted. "I also need to know the location of a place called Server Seven, so I accomplish my goal."

"What goal?" Fanglongmon leaned over a little trying to get a better look as the bike turned to face her.

"To find my master." Behemoth stated its desire clearly and directly.

"Wait! Are you saying that Impmon is alive?" Ryo exclaimed.

"I can usually sense where he is, but I can not sense him right now and yet I know he is still alive." The bike spoke softly and a tear rolled down Rika's face. Rika's head shook. "I cannot explain it."

"Then how do you know that he is in Server Seven?" Fanglongmon asked before anyone else could say more.

"I don't know where my master is, but with your help I can find some who does." The bike replied almost rabidly, as though it was beginning to grow tired of explaining things.

"Someone who does?" Kenta asked looked puzzled.

"Lopmon." Behemoth said not fully comprehending the significance of that name to those around it.

"Lopmon! Is she ok?" Suzie asked her voice was touched with relief and her some colour returned to her face.

"Suzie's digivice is blank though." Henry said doubting the bike's word.

"Are you sure you saw Lopmon alive?" Ryo asked.

The bike paused for a moment before answering. "Yes, and she seemed to be in the process of being kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Suzie jumped to her feet and looked very worried once again.

"Some kind of Digimon seemed to be carrying her off. I heard it mention Server Seven and something about an arena." Behemoth finished.

Takato walked towards Fanglongmon and stop just short of the white line that encircled her throne. He addressed her with an imploring look in his eyes.

"Ok. I know that the Digital world is in danger and if it wasn't for you we won't be here, but even if it's only for Lopmon and Impmon's sake." Takato paused and seemed to be rocking on his heels while thinking what to say next.

"I want to find and bring them back with us if possible, so give us five days to try and find them." Takato finish what he was saying with conviction in his voice.

Fanglongmon retreated into her chair and examined the tamers closely before responding with a grin, her sharp teeth flashing. "The Digital world is still in your debt from the first time you saved us and it is a long way from being beyond repair, so do what you need to do."

"What is this Sever Seven?" Ryo asked before anyone could beat him to it. He was starting to feel the excitement at the prospect of a new adventure.

"It is a city. In the human system of counting distances it would be about ten miles south of where your friends had been staying." Fanglongmon reeled off the information.

"We're going to need a more specific location, because that's were we're going next." Takato said. He swore that he would keep his promise to Ai and Mako, and he would bring Impmon home.

Everyone was nodding in agreement, but it was Takato who stepped up to his side first. "I think that we are all thinking the same thing and I'm with you, but don't you think we should get Rika back first?"

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To Be Continued…


End file.
